X-men: Second Generation
by leakingpenholder
Summary: She survived. She didn't explode, die before birth or have no powers. She survived and that was why they wanted her. At five years old she proved to be the one and only living second generation mutant, and even after eight years, the nightmare continues as the war begins. This time, with new weapons. - After x-men 2, with many new characters. Rated T for torture.
1. One Year Ago

**One year ago**

_With Keenan Darvis_

'Stay here!' of course he knew she wasn't going to listen. She never did. Not since they had started running seven years ago. At the age of five she had already been a handful, and it had only gotten worse with the years. But even though he knew she wasn't going to obey, he would never stop saying it because he always hoped she would see the sense in it one day.

So he ran, towards the confrontation, trying to keep them away from her with all his might. After all he didn't matter all that much. It was her they wanted. Always her. Because she was young and easily manipulated. Because it wasn't just his genes in her, it was much, much more. Surprisingly both their mutations were absent in her. At least for now. She was different, and her teen years had only just began. She knew what was at stake, and she wanted to fight, but he didn't know how he could keep her from harm. After all, she was just a twelve year old girl, hunted by too many different parties.

A bullet soared right through him, followed by a few more, but his body morphed around them and without losing any speed he ran on. The lizard-man fell to all fours and came at him at high speed. He threw himself on top of the Lizard-man and tried to slow them down. He put up a mighty struggle, but there was three of them. Bulletfingers might not be able to harm him, but the Lizard's poisonous bite and the Sandman's sandstorms were a different story.

His two daggers slashed around, cutting the Lizard, who seemed to not be very bothered by it. Sand swept up and his vision was blocked. His dagger found Bulletfingers as he heard a loud yell. Immediately he grabbed the man put him in a headlock and cut off both his hands, rendering him useless. Teeth sunk into his calve and he slashed back cutting of another leg of the Lizard.

'Still putting up a fight, Keenan?' Sandman called. 'Just hand her over and we'll be done.'

'Never!' Keenan yelled back and he dove for the silhouette of the Sandman, who had long before sidestepped him. Keened was hit in the back hard and he fell to his knees.

'Maybe you should reconsider.' Keenan was about to reply when a bright flash passed by, knocking over Sandman.

'Maybe you should reconsider trying to mess with us,' she said daringly before hitting him square in his face. Keenan crawled up, ready to angrily yell at her that she should have stayed in the car. But before he even opened his mouth, teeth sunk into him once again and now he did feel it. The poison. His dagger struck his target and the teeth let go. The Lizard fell to the ground, dead. They had avoided capture once again. Bulletfingers was crying as he stared at the stumps where his hands used to be. Sandman laid unconscious and the Lizard was bleeding severely from a stab wound in his neck. She was safe.

Keenan clutched his side as he felt his vision go blurry. He staggered and fell to his knees. She rushed over to his side.

'What is wrong?'

'Poison. His bite was poisonous. I'm not going to make it.'

'No. No, there must be something we can do. Anything.'

'Alexandra, there is nothing we can do. I protected you for as long as I could, but I have to go to your mother.'

'No, please. You can't die.'

'I have no choice. You're strong, you'll survive. Remember our goal. Find him. He can protect you.'

'But I don't know where to find him,' she could hardly hold her tears back anymore.

'You- You will find him at the school… Lex-.'

'Dad. Dad. Dad!' But he wasn't breathing anymore. She slowly let him onto the ground and forced herself to get up. She forcefully wiped away the tears from her eyes and turned to the pick-up truck and climbed into the drivers seat.


	2. Bar Brawl

**Bar Brawl**

_With a weird haired guest appearance_

The shady bar by the highway was exactly what she needed. The neon sign flickered and inside there were clear sounds of a bar fight. It provided perfect cover. She slipped in unnoticed and made her way through the fighting crowd to the bar.

'A beer,' she said as she sat down. The bartender looked up as he heard the particularly young and female voice, but her hood hid her face from view. All he could see was the black cloak and her fine hands come out from under it.

'You sure? You don't seem like the type.'

'Just give me a beer.'

'Are you old enough?'

'Do you care?'

'Can you pay?' Suddenly she grabbed his wrist and pulled him closer.

'I said, Give Me A Beer.' Something sharp was pricking in the bartenders wrist and he didn't hesitate a second longer to comply.

'A beer, straight away.' She let go of his wrist and now you could see the light cuts she had made. She ought to have held back. She ought to have contained herself, but at the moment she couldn't. She was hungry, she was tired and she definitely couldn't afford this beer. She barely had enough to keep herself alive, let alone afford something as expensive as alcohol. Had he asked for ID she would have been in real trouble. And she would have to get out of here quickly anyway, she was drawing too much attention to herself as she was illegally drinking.

But tonight she would indulge and break the law two times. After all, today she had been chased for so long. She had travelled so far to get away from them. It was true that she had not a single scratch, but it still hurt to be thrown against a tree. The bartender put the beer in front of her and she immediately picked it up to take a sip. It wasn't too bad and she sighed after she had downed it.

'So what's a young woman such as yourself doing in this bar at this hour?' The man sitting next to her asked. She looked aside. He had weird hair that seemed to form something like dog ears and seemed rather full of himself. She would kill to be able to afford the cigar he was smoking.

'What's it to you?' she turned her attention back to her beer.

'Hey, I know the beer is bad, but that's no reason to act like that.' That pissed her off.

'I think you're just about enough reason for me to hit you in the face.'

'You may try, but even with your powers that might not leave much of a mark.' That was it for her and she struck hard. Her fist glittered in the dim light as she swung with full force. His head was thrown back and he groaned as he put his head back to normal.

'Should have just listened,' she downed her beer, got up and turned to the bartender. 'You've got good intentions, so I'm sorry for what I'm about to do.'

'What do you mean?'

'It's always sad when you have to let down the good and honest people. I wish I could be like that too, but unfortunately life is not that kind. Good day.' She turned to leave.

'Stop! Thief!' Immediately a huge man with fists that were too large even for him came over to block her way to the exit. She threw back her hood and gave the bartender a look.

'You really want to do this? I'm not in the mood. I don't want to have to travel so far again. I already got no sleep.' But the fist came at her and she dropped her camouflage. The light brightened around her as his fist hit her diamond skin. He screamed in pain and she was knocked back to the ground.

'Trust me, that hurt me as much as it hurt you,' she crawled up. 'But I'm not going to feel a thing from this. Her right hand formed a cup and blue sparks jumped between her fingertips. Gathering, growing larger and a small blue ball formed in a matter of seconds. With a flick of her wrist the ball flew away and hit the huge man square in his stomach. He flew back through the entire bar, separating many of the fighting men. With a loud bang he hit the wall on the opposite side. All eyes turned towards her and she pulled up her normal form again. She dusted her vest and straightened herself.

'Anyone else have problems?' There was no reply. 'Thought so.' She looked around at the crowd of rough, scared men staring at her. 'Great, now I have to find someplace else to crash. Thanks a lot.' With that last snide remark she marched out of the bar. Logan chugged down the last of his beer, threw some money on the counter and followed her outside. Because of course, who else could that weird haired man with the cigar have been. Logan, after all, is always there were the fight is.

Outside he found her getting in the driver's seat of a pick-up truck: 'That was quite some display of power in there, kid.' He leant on the door of the car and blew out a cloud of smoke.

'Back off. That little stunt in there has made sure I've got to travel another hundred miles today at the very least. If you hadn't been such a shithead I might have gotten away with it.'

'So that's what you want to do? Just get away with things like this?'

'What do you want?' she sighed. 'If you want another blow to the face, that can be arranged.'

'Well, now you mention it. My motorcycle and I wouldn't mind a ride for just a mile or two.'

'Sure. What do you really want?'

'Well, it's not what I want. I'm off duty even, but I'm a teacher.'

'You have got to be kidding me.'

'Not really, I teach at a school for mutants. Seems like a place for you.' For a moment he saw something flicker in her eyes, but it was gone as soon as it had appeared.

'Piss off,' she started the car and turned to face forward.

'It's a safe place for all mutants.'

'There is no place in the world where I'm safe,' she didn't look at him, but he could see her clenching her fists.

'Ever heard of the Xavier school for gifted youngsters?' At the mentioning of that name she froze up. It lasted a few seconds where nothing happened. Thoughts were raging in her head, but making the decision wasn't hard.

'Where's your motorcycle?'

The whole way she didn't say a word. They had been only a few miles from the school and she had perfectly followed his directions. It was weird to sit in the car next to her, after all, she looked excessively tiny. He had quickly glanced at the pedals and noticed she had adapted them slightly to make sure she could reach them. She seemed disproportionate to the car. How old was she? Maybe fifteen? Sixteen? Couldn't be older than eighteen, despite the fact that she was definitely mature for her age. She pulled up on the driveway and didn't bother with parking neatly for he had given her no instructions. She dimmed the lights and bent over the steering wheel to get a good look at the building that was lit from the outside.

'What the hell is this place? Looks almost like a castle.' Logan got out of the car and she followed his example. Now she was standing she seemed even smaller. Her car seat had made up for a lot during the ride. She was maybe 5 ft. She followed him inside and that was when her jaw practically hit the floor.

'Freaking-,' she swallowed the next word as she looked around. Almost as if she suddenly started to feel self conscious she pulled at her vest and pulled back her hood. She was swimming in the large dirty grey vest she was wearing. Her jeans and shoes were definitely too worn down to be worn much longer. Her hair was greasy, her face was dirty and she had clearly eaten way too little. She seemed to be unable to believe that she was actually here.

'What did you say this place was again?'

'It's a school for mutants.'

'You a teacher?'

'Unfortunately, from time to time.' This actually caused her to smile, but then her stomach growled so loudly Logan wondered if there was not actually a miniature tiger hidden behind her back. 'You hungry?'

'It's not that ba-,' but her stomach protested again. 'Terribly.'

Logan laughed at the pink colour that appeared on her cheeks. He led the way to the kitchen and opened the fridge. 'Do you have a problem with oven pizza?'

'Pizza? You have real pizza here?' 

'Pizza it is.' Usually it would take only a matter of seconds if they asked Heath to assist, or any mutant with powers like that. Now he really had to heat up the oven, which was a pain, but he didn't have that much choice. Other than that there was just a lump of old bread on the middle of the table. Then he noticed she was eyeing it.

'You want that?'

'Can I?' He shrugged and threw it to her. She caught it and eagerly started eating. She was clearly absolutely starved.

'How long ago was it that you ate?' he asked as he placed a glass of water in front of her.

'Just had a beer that gave me quite some energy, three days ago I finished the macaroni.'

'How old are you exactly?'

She swallowed the last bit of bread: 'Thirteen.' He gave her a look. 'Don't look at me like that. What would you do in my position?' then she chugged down the entire glass in one go.

'Don't know. I have no idea what your "position" is.'

'Suppose. Thank you for the bread and the water.' She attempted to straighten her hair a bit again, but it wasn't really working.

'You're a weird kid, you know that, right?'

'I do. Just like you know you are a weird adult.' He snorted then he turned to the oven to put the pizza in. 'So if you're a mutant what kind of powers do you have, apart from not starting to cry like a baby when I punch you?' she asked as she sat up straight.

'You really want to know?'

'Would I have asked if I didn't want to know?' Logan shrugged and pulled out his claws.

'Wicked!' She bent forward. 'You're the Wolverine. My dad told me about you. We share some powers, you know.'

'What are your powers?' She hesitated for a moment. Her eyes flicked to his claws again and at the healing cuts that were left. Somehow this seemed to convince her that she should tell him.

'Not sure. I suppose you've seen that I have diamond skin and invisibility. I can run nearly fast enough to break the sound barrier. My telepathic ability doesn't reach further than my own mind though. My telekinetic ability can only carry very light objects. I'm not sure to what extent my healing abilities go. And there might even be more since it's all still developing. Oh, and there is the plasma grenades.'

'What the hell?'

'You tell this to anyone and I swear I will hurt you, badly.'

'How were you planning on doing that?' he snorted

'I may be young, but I've probably fought just as much mutants as you have,' she crossed her arms over her chest. 'I'm not so arrogant as to say that I could kill you or even knock you out, but I can hurt you, of that I'm sure.'

'Kid, you know nothing.'

'You're exactly two meters away. I can cross that distance in less than a millisecond.'

'Why don't you want anyone to know?' To this she didn't reply immediately. The tone of the conversation changed immediately. Her expression became grave and it seemed like memories were coming to her.

'Because it's the reason I cannot stay here.' But she stopped speaking after that.

Luckily for Logan the pizza was done and after cutting it up she was eagerly eating. People usually complained about his manners, but this girl was way worse. She absolutely didn't care wherever she got smudges or crumbs. She just seemed very keen on picking up everything she dropped. When they had finished the entire pizza she licked her fingers three times before wiping her face and licking that up too. Then she collected all the crumbs that had been dropped before sighing.

'God, that food could taste so good.' Logan snorted in amusement and she gave him a glare: 'It's been over three years since I've had anything like this.' As the colour rose to her cheeks he started laughing even harder causing her to blush even more.

'What's your name?' she asked as they finally calmed down.

'Logan. Yours?'

'Alexandra, but I'm usually called Alex.'

'Is Lex okay?'

'Whatever.'


	3. The Mystery of Alexandra Darvis

**The Mystery of Alexandra Darvis**

_With Sniffers_

'Logan, what are you doing here aren't you supposed to be out?' Storm suddenly appeared in the doorway to the kitchen.

'I was, but then I found something,' he turned to Alex, but she had disappeared. 'Hey, where did she go?'

'Where did who go?'

'The kid, Lex.'

'Are you finally going mad, Loga-,' but she froze up before she could finish her sentence.

'Move and your dead,' slowly Alex came into view. A kitchen knife in her hand pointed it at a very crucial point on Storm's back.

'Wowowowow, no need for that. Storm, this is Alexandra. Picked her up causing trouble. Lex, this is Storm. She runs this place.' A short second this ran through Alex' mind, but the fury arose.

'Don't lie to me! I know who is supposed to run this school, and it's not her! Who are you people?! Where is Xavier?!'

'Ale-,' Storm started.

'You shut up!' The knife now drew blood as it penetrated Storm's skin.

'Xavier is dead. He was killed about fifteen years ago,' Logan said.

'You're lying! You're lying, you have to be!'

'He's not lying, Alex. Professor Xavier died nearly fourteen years ago.'

'No,' Alex lowered her knife and took a step back. 'No. No!' Tears formed in her eyes. 'It can't be.'

'I'm very sorry. Did you know him well?' Storm asked.

'He can't be. My dad… He said… He would… Oh god, I'm going to die.' She fell to her knees in tears.

'Hey, hey, don't start crying now,' Logan was not good with crying people. Never had been, never will be.

'Eight years. Eight years we've been trying to get to him. He was our only hope.'

'Hey, don't worry. We can protect you,' Storm knelt down next to her.

'No, you can't,' Alex said.

'Hey. If anyone in the world can protect you, it's the people in this school,' Logan said.

'You don't understand,' she looked up at them. 'They've been after me for over eight years. They will find me at all costs. If I stay here they'll kill all of you.'

'If the past is any indication,' Storm spoke. 'then they'll think twice before attacking this school. We're housing 83 mutant children with all different kinds of powers, 8 mutant teachers, and you yourself. You'll be safe here.' But Alex still looked like she wasn't fully convinced.

'Listen, kid, you stay on the run you're not gonna last much longer,' Logan stated. 'With us, you might stand a chance of actually making it out alive in the end.'

'Why are they after you anyway?' Storm asked. Alex wiped her tears away.

'I'm not sure if I should tell you.'

'Why not?'

'Anything to do with those powers of yours?' Logan butted in. Alex didn't exactly reply to this. She just started swearing in a low voice. Basically telling herself that she was an idiot, that she should have paid more attention, that she was an even bigger idiot, that they had her trapped now and that she was an absolute complete idiot. All this was decorated with an assortment of words that not a single thirteen year old ought to know.

'Lex, you alright?'

'Of course, I'm not alright. This is madness,' she said. 'Xavier was the only one my dad trusted enough to ever want to seek out.'

'And why was that?' Storm asked.

'Do you know anyone by the name of Keenan Davis, or Teresa McBurley?' Alex looked at Storm.

'Teresa. Of course I know Teresa. She was one of my favourite students. She always reminded me of an angel with her wings. Very shy though. Why do you mention her?'

'She's my mother,' Alex said.

'Really? You don't look like her.'

'You really knew her!' Alex shot up.

'She's been teaching here for nearly twenty years, you know?' Logan commented.

'You make me sound old,' Storm replied.

'So you knew Charles Xavier well?'

'I guess,' Storm glanced at Logan.

'Don't look at me.' Then he turned to Alex. 'So we passed your test?'

Alex hesitated for a short moment. 'I guess. It feels different than I had expected. I thought…' She looked around, but didn't finish her sentence. Then she got to her feet and suddenly seemed to be on high alert.

'Did you hear that?'

'Hear what?' Storm looked from Alex to Logan who was now also listening.

After only three seconds he sighed before explaining: 'Nightwalker got himself injured again.'

'That boy ought to be more careful. I'll get Tatiana.' With that Storm walked out of the kitchen to find whoever Tatiana was. Logan and Alex were left alone in the kitchen. Silence fell and it got on Logan's nerves. Alex was staring at him and he had never realised how unnerving the stare of a thirteen year old girl could be. Then again, this was no ordinary thirteen year old girl. The punch of this thirteen year old girl actually hurt quite a bit. And he still wasn't sure what exactly she wanted, but it definitely wasn't some stuffed animal or anything like that.

'So,' he began.

'You don't need to try and make small talk,' she replied straight away. 'It's not my thing either.' This brought a grin to Logan's face and she immediately averted her eyes.

'I like you, kiddo.'

'Not so bad yourself,' she muttered as if she was embarrassed to say this.

Suddenly someone appeared in the doorway to the kitchen. A boy of maybe seventeen years old. He was clutching his head and he smelled like mud and blood. Alex immediately made herself invisible, leaving the boy to think he was alone with Logan.

'Fell again, Justin?'

'Not really,' he removed his hand revealing a straight cut all the way over his forehead. 'Got attacked by a mutant.'

'Slice,' Alex suddenly appeared right before Justin. 'Were there others? Was the Sniffer there?'

'Who are you?'

'Were there others?'

'There was four of them. What is going on?'

'Alex, what is happening?' Logan cut in.

'They've found me. This cut,' she put her finger to Alex forehead, he cringed in pain, 'is the signature of Slice. I suppose there was a man with an eye patch, a bald man and a woman with a chain tattooed around her neck?'

'I don't know, I didn't take a good look at them. I ran as soon as they spotted me. I lost them near the edge of the forest.' Storm came in with a very tall blond woman who immediately started to tend to Justin's wound. Alex rubbed her hand over her forehead and turned around as she was thinking of ways to solve this. They had found her, what was she supposed to do? It had been a mistake to come here.

'What's going on?' But Logan got no reply from Alex so he asked again: 'Lex, what's going on? Who are these people?'

'They're a pack. The third one they've sent after me since I've come back to the US, and by far the best.'

'Who are they?'

'I don't know.'

'What do they want?'

'I don't know.'

'Is there anything you do know?' Logan was now getting fed up with her answers, but she got equally as snappy when she retaliated.

'Shut up! All I know is that these people want to capture me for the fact that I'm still alive and they won't stop at anything to do so. I've been running from them for eight years and I've seen the destruction they cause. So if you want to save your precious school, now is not the time to keep on asking me questions.' Then she turned to the kitchen door.

'What are you doing?' Storm asked.

'I'm going to do something I should have done a while ago.' Then she flashed away. Logan needed a few seconds to take this in, but the moment he realised he didn't hesitate a second longer.

'She's going to confront them.' Immediately he went after her.

Storm turned to Tatiana and Justin: 'Wake the other members of staff and watch over the children.' Then she hurried after Logan.

Outside on the grass Alex stood looking at the forest when Logan walked up to her: 'You should have stayed inside.'

'Can say the same to you,' he shrugged.

'You don't know these people like I do. They will cut you in half,' Alex remarked not averting her eyes from the forest.

'I'd like to see them try.'

'Where are they?' Storm asked.

'Not far,' Alex replied. 'What are you doing here anyway?'

'You said you needed someone to protect you. Here we are.' As if on a cue five other adults came running out. 'We will protect you.'

'What's happening?' An exceptionally muscular man asked.

'There's four mutants out there out for this girl.'

'What did you do? Rob a bank?' an exceptionally thin woman asked.

'I exist.'

'Here they come,' Logan said.

'Okay, whatever you do. When you see a man with an eye patch, close your eyes until I say you can open them.' Alex gave out the order.

'And why would we listen to you?' A third male teacher said.

'Because I'm your only chance of getting out of this alive.' Suddenly at the edge of the forest appeared a small little girl.

'Wait, we're planning on fighting her?' the muscular man said.

'Close your eyes! Close your eyes!' Alex dropped her human looks and her diamond skin came into view. In her right hand the blue sparks were already forming.

'Wait, it's just a little girl!' Storm called out. But Alex threw the plasma grenade and the girl jumped out of the way just in time. Immediately the spell was lifted and they all saw that it was no little girl, but a man with an eye patch.

'Now, that pissed me off,' the third male teacher said. And immediately a set of knives flew out of his belt and three soared towards the man that was still getting up. Two hit his leg, a third hit his arm and he cried out loudly. That was when all hell broke lose. A large red slice came towards them.

'Get down!' Alex yelled as she started running forward towards the edge of the forest.

'Lex!' Logan yelled as he was the only one ignoring her warning. The red slice hit him on the chest, but was largely bounced of by the adamantium skeleton. Alex was on her way towards the woman who had sent the slice, but her path was blocked by the bald man. She hit him, but immediately he grew more sets of arms and she was forced on defence. Logan joined her side and took over, but as soon as he cut of one arm another grew back.

'Bobby!' he yelled. The fourth male teacher joined him and got into battle with the endless armed one. His body was just too flexible and arms and legs seemed to appear everywhere. It took Bobby everything to keep up. Alex couldn't focus on him, for a next opponent had appeared. The man with the eye patch had gotten up and was now holding two of the daggers that had been thrown at him, but before he could do a thing the very thin woman and a mousey woman had appeared. The thin woman was a teleporter, and the mousey woman was no other than Shadowcat. They managed to stay out of sight and were therefore not affected by the images this man could put in their heads.

'Three and a half, shall we reduce that?' Alex dropped herself on the ground as she heard that voice and the Sniffer just missed her. 'Get back here, you little brat!' she screeched, but the muscular guy suddenly appeared before her, completely made of metal. It was Tinman.

'You wanna lose your two levels? I can take care of that.' But when she touched him nothing happened. Alex couldn't look at it. She was still aiming for Slice. Logan had pulled out his claws and was running forward with her. Storm was creating thunder, but it wasn't coming up fast enough and before she could do anything Slice had started throwing her red sickles at Alex and Logan. Alex was thrown back again a tree by the sheer force of this blow, but Logan had put up his claws and was still heading strong. The next blow however sent him flying to the side. Alex had gotten up by now and was nearly in range to punch Slice, but before she could do that Slice threw another cut at her. Alex was thrown back on the ground, but she immediately got up.

'You don't know when to give up do you?!' Slice yelled. And she lashed out more of her red cuts but before they could reach the thirteen year old girl Logan got in the way with his claws. Behind them Tinman snapped the neck of the Sniffer. Bobby had completely frozen the endless armed man and the telekinetic man had stabbed the man with the eye patch in both his eye and his heart. Alex ran up to Logan, used his back as steps. Sparks gathered in her diamond hand and she crashed it on the skull of Slice. Her head exploded and Logan and Alex were thrown back onto the ground. Alex lost her diamond form as she came to a halt and didn't hesitate but to get up. Slice was dead, the Sniffer was dead, eye patch was dead. She turned to the man frozen in ice and lifted her hand to create another plasma grenade.

'No, Alex, don't!' But Storms words were in vain and the ice, with the man inside it was blasted into pieces. Alex stood in the middle of the seven teachers who all stared at her.

'Who are you?' Bobby asked too astonished to do anything else

'I'm Alexandra Darvis, and I'm the first second generation mutant.' Then she fainted.

They watched as she fell to the ground and nobody knew what to do. Second generation mutant… Second generation mutant. Nobody could really grasp it. They had figured out a while ago that males passed on the gene. And male mutants could get a mutant child with a human woman. But female mutants could not get a mutant child with a human man, the child would have no powers then. With two mutant parents the child would die. That they had not realised it when she had told them about her mother.

Storm finally seemed to get back to her senses and took charge: 'Logan, could you carry her?'

'Sure,' Logan grunted and picked the girl up. She absolutely weighed nothing. They put her in a room of her own and Storm tucked her in before they went back. They asked Rogue to keep watch over the girl and she did so with pleasure. When breakfast came around Storm took over for Rogue, but the girl still didn't wake up. Nor did she when Shadowcat took over after lunch, or on Bobby's watch until midnight. It was during Logan's watch in the extremely early morning that she finally woke up. He could smell she concealed herself again for she smelled more human this way.

'You up, kid?'

'You been sitting there all this time, creep?' she replied as she opened the door.

'Listen, you brat. I don't sit-.'

'Sit there by choice. I know. Sorry, okay. I'm just… not used to people watching over me, you know.'

'I know where you come from,' Logan sighed.

'Bet you don't.'

'You really want to challenge the sad background story?'

'Not really, since I'd definitely win. It's just what people keep on saying wherever you meet them. They understand, they know what you're going through. They pity you. And the moment danger arrives they give you up like you were nothing. If they truly understood, they would never do that.' She ran her hands through her dirty hair in an attempt to comb out the knots, but she gave up really quickly.

'You don't seem like the type that would stay here,' she commented.

'Am not.'

'Then what are you doing here?'

'Babysitting you.'

'Great. Then, Storm runs this place?'

'Yeah.'

'Good, cause I need to talk to her.'

'You're going to have to wait for that. It's four in the morning. You slept more than a day.' Again the colour rose to her cheeks causing him to grin. 'How long have you been on the run?' She sat down on the bench next to him.

'Around eight years,' she replied. 'I've been alone since a little over a year.'

'Sheesh, where are your parents?'

'Dead. My mom died eight years ago and my dad was killed a little over a year ago. I've been getting by.'

'Not that it's my business, but that is no life for a kid.'

'Tell me about it. But it's my life.' She sighed: 'Thank you for protecting me, by the way.' She didn't look him in the eye, but still her words brought a certain ease to their conversation. It may even have brought the tiniest bit of a smile to Logan's face.

'You're welcome,' he leant back. 'Besides you were not so bad yourself.' No response. For a moment he thought she had fallen asleep again, but she was just staring at her hands and trying to brush off the dirt.

'Do you… want to wash up or anything?'

'Would that be possible?'

A few minutes later she came out of the room clad in sweatpants and a blue vest from the school. Immediately she seemed so much younger. She opened her mouth to thank Logan once again, but he stopped her before could produce a single sound.

'If you keep on thanking me I might have to put a set of claws through your stomach.' This got her to snort and sent him a smile.

'Good, cause it's starting to feel unnatural,' she sighed. 'What happened to my car?'

'Still there I guess.' The girl with the attitude had returned clearly as she completely ignored him and walked away. Logan had not much choice but to follow her. She went down the stairs and walked straight on outside to where her car still stood. She pulled open the door and leant inside to retrieve an old army backpack. She put it on the ground in front of her and opened it. Upon looking inside it she sighed in relief. Logan knew better than to ask and luckily for him she pulled out what she had been looking for. Two daggers. They didn't seem so very special, but the way Alex was holding them showed that they were very important.

She gently placed them in her lap and continued searching the bag for something. In the end she pulled out something small which he didn't get to see very well. She put the daggers back in, closed the bag and got up. For a moment she seemed at a loss for words, but then she just held out her hand. In it was a cigar. For a moment Logan gave her a confused look. He wasn't sure if to take it, or to question her why she had that.

'Just take it. I had hoped smoking would help me get over pain, but it didn't. I don't use it.' Logan took it from her. This was a weird situation. Had he not been so baffled by this girl thanking him with a cigar, he might have found the situation of a thirteen year old giving him a cigar weird, or the fact that this starving girl could actually possess a cigar.

**Chapter 6 First Day of School**

'Logan, Alex, what are you doing outside?' came walking towards them.

'Who are you?' Alex snapped.

'Marie, but everyone calls me Rogue. I'm one of the teachers. It's nice to meet you.' Alex didn't reply to this, but Rogue didn't really mind. 'Let's get inside. Logan and Alex followed her back to the mansion.

'You didn't join the fight yesterday, why?'

'Tatiana and I both have no fighting power. I had my powers permanently removed and Tatiana heals whatever she touches.'

'You took the cure?'

'The cure turned out to not have a lasting effect. I nearly killed my husband. So I went to the source of the cure and asked him if he could take my powers away.'

'So you're human now?' Rogue nodded. 'That must suck.'

'Not really. I took life energy from people so I could use their powers. But this meant I couldn't touch people. I can now. I've always been afraid of my powers, now I don't have to be anymore. It's actually kind of freeing.' They went into Storm's office which was still empty since it had only just reached five in the morning.

'Storm will come here as soon as she's ready,' Rogue spoke. 'In the meantime we need to figure out what you want.'

'What I want?' Alex asked.

'You can stay here with us where we will protect you, or you can stay on the move. We won't force you into anything. But we would like for you to stay here. After all we try to make this a safe place for all mutants where they can learn to control their powers. We have teachers who can help you in every aspect. You can make friends and learn from each other and we'll take good care of you.'

Alex didn't know how to reply to this straight away: 'It seems so surreal. That all the running could just end. Today.'

'We will not force you to stay here,' Storm spoke as she came in. 'It is your own choice to stay with us if you want to.'

'Are you sure that my being here will not be too much trouble. Especially with them after me?'

'We explained this before,' Rogue smiled.

'They'll think twice about attacking the school,' Storm added.

'And a practical lesson is always good for those lazy sh-.'

'Logan!' At Storms words Logan immediately shut up, causing Alex to smile.

'Then I think I would like to stay here.'


	4. Normal!

**Normal?**

_With Alexandra Darvis_

In the time they had before breakfast Alex was assigned to a room and picked a few classes she thought might be useful. Her affairs were put in order, her car was put with the others and it was planned that she would go into town with Rogue and Shadowcat in the afternoon.

Upon giving a tour to the girl, Storm encountered a few small problems with her conventional education. Whereas the girl was familiar with a few concepts, despite never having used them, the girl seemed to have no clue as to the use of a toilet. Apparently she was used to relieving herself outside and didn't see the use of a porcelain bowl that had to be emptied. Safe to say, it was an awkward situation having to explain the necessity of using it.

Her shock of the washing machine and tumble drier gave Logan a good laugh and Storm another few minutes of explaining. Neither did Alex seem to understand the use of art, on which Logan wholeheartedly agreed with her, a fireplace or anything in the colour pink. The comfort of the beds was unfamiliar to her and upon showing her where she would be sleeping she at first neglected the bed, thinking it could not possibly be meant for her, and crawled inside the wooden closet.

At breakfast the situation became even more hilarious when she tried to store food in her backpack to save for when she was in desperate need for it. And she knew surprisingly few of the products they had set out for the students to use for their breakfast. Although that might have to do with the fact that she didn't recognise the fruits. It was an amazing discovery to her that bananas were actually originally yellow instead of brown. And although she had always avoided white furry stuff, she was sure that apples were supposed to taste a bit more like mud than this. She kept on asking the students around her if things were safe, and was not assured of it until they had tried it themselves before her eyes. Tatiana and Tinman, who had watch over breakfast that morning, were amused greatly by her behaviour.

Belamie, who taught Alex' first class and was the mysterious teleporter woman, had the privilege to have to explain the workings of a pen to Alex who had before only ever used pencils because they were much cheaper. Fortunately Alex was not paying attention to her fellow students at all, or she would have been intensely bothered by the laughter and whispers from her class. She hardly even noticed a girl sticking up for her as she clicked the back of the pen and tried to understand exactly why the point came out on the other side. Getting ink out of it was another miracle that she eventually had to give up on trying to understand halfway through the lesson. Unfortunately Belamie was already too far into the subject of the workings of the universe and other physics stuff to have Alex understand a single thing.

Shadowcat, who taught Alex' second class, had Alex completely distracted after someone's cell phone went off after ten minutes. The device was far to curious for Alex to ignore and the rest of the lesson the entire class and Shadowcat tried to explain the various functions of a mobile phone to Alex, instead of teaching philosophy and math as she was supposed to. But it was important to teach things like these to Alex who was mainly having trouble with the fact that it was a phone when it could do much more than the phones she had read about in the books she sometimes got. Because, yes, Alex did have hobbies, she just had no time to practise them, or money to do so. Reading books had taught her a lot, but since most of it had been classical literature, which her father had told her about, modern day technologies had slipped her notice.

Bobby, who taught Alex' third class after lunch, had the misfortune of wishing to use some technologies in his class. And whereas she didn't understand what he was doing with a laptop, the fact that the television suddenly started showing images scared her so much that she turned herself invisible and ran away. She was later found hiding under a table in the kitchen, but by then there were only five minutes of class left and Bobby really couldn't do anything anymore. His interesting lesson of showing slow motion images of elemental powers had completely gone to waste.

Fortunately for Maze, the telekinetic teacher of Alex fourth and last class, he had no trouble at all with Alex being more advanced in physical activities than any of the other students. She was fit, fast and, albeit not very strong, an exceptional fighter for her age. After all, Alex had fought with sticks, clubs and mainly daggers. She had more battle experience than all the other students combined and it was showing.

Afterwards she was in such a good mood that she had a bounce in her step as she went to Storm's office. Storm was awaiting her with Logan and Shadowcat, who were, despite Logan denying this, very interested in her. Alex' recount of her day put things into perspective for the teachers and it was decided that in the afternoon one of them should teach the girl about the appliances throughout the manor. Logan was, very unwillingly, volunteered for this job since Storm and Shadowcat both had a late afternoon class to teach. And also he was considered to be capable of relating to her the most, having lived on the run for several years.

In the end, he didn't regret it one bit. Because, whereas Alex was absolutely ignorant to everything ado with entertainment and comfort, she was clever enough to pick up on most of it within minutes. At least to the extent of Logan's knowledge, which didn't reach very far when it concerned technology. But since Alex had no desire to learn more about those thing than he knew it was just fine. She was far more interested in everyone's powers, the secrets of the building, the book collection and, surprisingly, card games.

When dinnertime came around she had actually conversed with other students and mastered controlling the temperature in the room by turning up the thermostat. The ease with which this life was lived still astounded Alex. It seemed to good to be real and she felt like it would all fall apart very soon. At the dinner table people crowded around her because of her novelty, as always happened with new students and Alex was asked lots of things. Logan was laughing at this until she fled to his side.

'Lex, what are you doing here?'

'You scare them, so scare them,' Alex whispered in his ear as she warily looked at the students who were now all talking amongst themselves.

'Wait, what?'

'They keep on asking very difficult questions to which I don't know the answers. I don't like it.'

'What kind of questions?'

'"What is your favourite movie?" "What is your favourite food?" How am I supposed to know what my favourite food is when there is so many different kinds? And what is a movie?' At this Logan burst into laughter really loudly as did Maze, who was sitting close to them and had heard everything.

'Oh, my dear girl, you're in for a treat if you've never seen a movie,' Maze laughed as Alex furrowed her brows in question of their actions.

'What is it?' Alex asked naively and now having many more people hear this another round of laughter started. 'I don't get it.' This only caused more laughter and for the first time Alex felt something uncomfortable growing in her chest. She didn't like this feeling. There was something wrong with her and she didn't understand. Never had she felt this stupid or helpless. She didn't want to be here. She didn't want to be where all these people laughed at her! Just like that she was gone.

Invisible she made her way through the hall and escaped to the garage where her car was parked.

She climbed in the drivers seat and curled up on the bench, the way she used to sleep. The smell of the musty car comforted her slightly, but the memory of all students laughing at her wouldn't leave her alone. She felt so silly for coming here. This way of attacking seemed so civilised, but it struck unexpectedly and it hurt. It felt like betrayal. She was not in any danger, but yet they made her feel just like the families who had sold her out to her pursuers had. Hot tears burned in her eyes and she buried her face in the seat cushions to wipe them away. Even after a year the car still smelled like her dad. Maybe it was the other way around and her dad had smelled like this car. The smell of mud and time and beans. Her own scent at the moment didn't fit this anymore. She used to smell of mud and of sweat and, more often than not, of blood.

Now she smelled like soap and toothpaste. She used to cherish the time this was the case, but at the moment she couldn't find the comfort she needed in it. She wanted her dad here now. She wanted him to tell her that he would protect her with all he had. She wanted him to appear out of nowhere and tell her he had recovered from his wound so they had to get moving really quickly.

'Dad,' she mumbled in the dirty material of the car seat.

'Lex?' She shot up.

'Dad?' but as soon as the words had left her mouth she saw Logan approaching.

'Not exactly, but they sent me after you.' Alex looked away and pulled up her knees so they fit against her chest without touching the large steering wheel. Logan stopped at the window on the driver's side and looked at her.

'Are you okay?'

'I'm fine,' she mumbled with less conviction than she had intended to. Logan sighed and walked over to climb into the passenger's seat.

'You know, you're a terrible liar,' he sighed.

'Am not.'

'Are too. At least at this moment you are.' She didn't reply. 'Look, what happened in there was harsh, but nothing can change that.'

'I don't understand it,' Alex replied out of the blue, causing Logan to look at her. 'They didn't put me in danger. They didn't sell me out. They never attacked me. Then why do I feel hurt? Why do I feel betrayed?'

'You've never been embarrassed before?' Alex shook her head at this. 'Suppose that's a good thing.'

'How can it be a good thing? It makes me weak,' she snapped.

'It's not a really pleasant thing anyway.' Alex looked down at her knees again. 'So far, you've held your own pretty well.'

'I don't understand this type of fighting,' Alex said.

'It's not a fair war,' Logan replied. 'The only way to come out as a victor is to show them that you're above it.'

'What do you mean?'

'I have no idea,' he replied and this brought a small smile on her face.

'Still, I seem to be so far behind.'

'If it matters, I think you're doing great,' Logan said. 'You've been here only a day. It will come in time.'

'Thanks, Logan.'

He ruffled her hair: 'Don't sweat it, kid.' A short silence fell between them before Logan spoke again: 'So, you gonna come up for dinner?'

'I don't want to go back there,' she replied less sadly, but still not completely recovered.

'Okay, then how about I take you to see your first movie and then we'll grab something to eat in town, deal?'

This caused a smile to break out on her face: 'I'm driving.'

'You'd better, only you're short enough to fit in that seat.'

'I'm perfectly normal length for my age,' she huffed back as she started up the car.

'Sure,' Logan said snidely as he leant back in his seat while she took off.

'Why are you not smoking?' she asked after they had left the school grounds.

'What?'

'Why are you not smoking?'

'I dunno, should I be?'

'It reminds me of my dad when we were in Russia.'

'Russia?' Logan asked as he pulled out a cigar and lit it. 'Where the hell have you been?'

'Everywhere.'

The cinema was a whole new experience to Alex and it probably wouldn't have mattered to what kind of movie Logan had taken her. Alex visibly enjoyed every second of it and to Logan it was more entertaining to watch her than the movie. It was a simple movie with nothing exceptionally complicated about it, but she loved it. All the time she stared at the screen, and seemed to blink as little as possible in order to capture every frame and preserve it in her memory. Logan himself couldn't help but smile at the sight of the girl who finally seemed to act as young as she truly was.

Even compared to the other students she was rather young. Most of the mutants didn't have their powers showing until the age of fourteen or fifteen, bringing them to the school around fifteen or sixteen. There were a few exceptions, but those younger students more often then not formed a special class in which they took a slower course to learn about powers. Alex had been thrown on the fast track and was keeping up with it, jumping ahead at times. The gaps in her knowledge were made up for by excessive skills in other areas.

When the movie was over she happily followed him into a brown café that, according to Logan, sold great steaks too. Alex was happy with basically anything they had presented her so far, but she definitely shared Logan's tastes, including his appreciation for beer, chips and a good steak, which may or may not be of great quality. With Logan ordering a beer for her, they had a slight problem however, seeing as she definitely didn't look old enough to drink.

'I'm sorry, Miss, but could I see some identification, please?' the waiter came up to them after having talked with the manager.

'Look,' Logan started.

'That's alright, just a second,' Alex pulled her bag on her lap. 'I get this all the time. I just look young for my age. Ah, there it is.' And she showed him an Australian driver's licence that said she was exactly 21 years old. Logan raised an eyebrow, which the waiter luckily didn't see, but he didn't say anything until the waiter had gone to process their order.

'You got a driver's licence?' he asked in a hushed voice.

'I got three,' she replied with a light grin. 'My dad thought it might come in handy. But my Australian one is the only one on which I'm old enough to drink here.'

'You,' Logan didn't exactly know what he was going to say. 'I'm starting to like you more and more, kid.'

'Could say the same for you,' she smiled as their dinner was put down in front of them.

On their way back Logan had squeezed himself into the adapted driver's seat because Alex had been starting to doze off after she'd finished her meal. Despite the drive being only four miles he was glad when it was over. As he parked the car in the garage he looked at the side and found Alex to be fast asleep. He got out of the car and picked her up in his arms to carry her up to the mansion. Inside the manor it was dark, and only a few lights lit the way for the few night creatures that resided there. But as he reached the bottom of the staircase he was approached by Storm.

'Logan, where were you?! We were worried sick and, oh my god, what happened to her?'

'Be quiet, she's asleep.' They put Alex in bed first before they talked.

'You have any idea how worried we were?! The two of you were suddenly gone.'

'I know that too, Storm. But it was either this or have her stay hidden in her car for the evening. So I made a judgement call.'

'You could at least have told us.'

'I didn't think of that at the time.'

'Fine, fine. So where did you take her?'

'To see her first movie and then to Carl's,' Logan said.

'Did she enjoy it?'

'You should have seen her face,' Logan smiled to himself as he recalled the expression she had worn during the movie.

'That's good,' Storm said. 'But it's late, Logan, you should get some sleep.' Logan expressed his agreement and was about to turn to his quarters when Storm spoke up again: 'You would have made a great dad.'

Alex was not a difficult child at all. She took care of herself and asked for basically nothing. They noticed that on her second day there. She was everywhere on time, got in no one's way and went to discover things herself. Her curiosities were nothing but a source of amusement for most of the residents of the manor. Still she stood out very clearly. Around lunch time on the second day Rogue and Tatiana went to buy some clothes with her. She picked her clothes on nothing but her ability to move in them and how warm they kept her. Rogue and Tatiana had to intervene and make sure she got different clothes for different types of weather, and clothes that weren't completely mismatched. However inconvenient this may have been in the moment, it was no real problem and remained visible in nothing but the funny story afterwards. Even Alex could look back on it with a smile.

No, there was one real problem with Alex and that became visible the night. As she told later she had not been able to fall asleep as she hardly trusted the other girls around her. But she could overcome that eventually and fall asleep. It was two in the morning when hell started. A thudding sound woke up three of the girls in the room where Alex was tossing and turning in her sleep. She had knocked over the lamp on her bedside table as was violently fighting monsters that weren't there.

'Alex?' One of the girls tried.

'No, don't,' Alex mumbled in her sleep.

'Alex, wake up, you're having a nightmare.'

'Don't… Dad.' The pain was etched on her face and the girl decided to shake Alex awake. But as soon as her hand even came close to the sleeping girl a blue spark sprung from Alex over to the kind girl. It burned the girl and she screamed out in pain, waking up more of the students on the first floor.

'Dad!' Alex now called out in sheer panic as her dream seemed to be getting worse. At that moment Shadowcat burst through the door and quickly observed the situation. After all, she had night duty that evening and she had to fix this.

'Ivy, go to Tatiana and have your hand looked at. The rest of you girls, go to the homeroom.' Shadowcat quickly ordered before kneeling next to the thrashing girl. 'Alex, Alex, can you hear me?' But Alex heard nothing but her memories. She was completely wrapped up in the past that nothing came through.

'No! Don't take him!' A blue spark hit Shadowcat who was forced to take her distance. Her volume was increasing and out in the corridor students were crowding around to see what was happening. This also drew the attention of the teachers who were waking up from the commotion.

'No. No!' Nearly every member of staff was now gathered in the small student dorm in which the trashing girl was getting more and more violent every second. Sparks went flying to everyone who approached and they hurt. Only Tinman seemed to be unaffected by the spark, but as soon as he touched her she screamed so loudly that their eardrums felt like they were about to explode. With a shock she woke up and not immediately recognising where she was she started throwing plasma grenades at her supposed attackers. Tinman protected them as well as he could, but the room was basically being blown to bits with already a hole in the ceiling and a second window to the next room.

Of course it was Logan who took the risk: 'Lex, calm down.' He stepped away from Tinman's cover and pulled her against him. The smell of smoke, mud and time seemed to calm her down and she tightly held onto Logan.

'Dad, don't leave me. Please, don't leave me.' Logan sighed and motioned for the other teachers to leave the room, which they did very willingly with the girl being so very unstable. In the corridor they were met with a crowd of uneasy students that had to be directed to the right places.

'Lex, look at me.' Alex let go of him a bit and turned her face up so their eyes met.

'Logan,' immediately all reality seemed to crash back onto her. 'I'm sorry. I didn't… Oh, I'm so sorry. I thought they had caught me again.' She flinched away and held her hands close to her chest as she trembled over her entire body.

'Lex, calm down. Calm down. No one's mad at you.' She seemed to calm down at this a bit. 'You had a nightmare, right?' She nodded slowly as tears started forming in her eyes. 'You, eh, need to talk about it?'

'It hurts, Logan, it hurts so bad.' A tear escaped her eye.

'Wowowow, don't start crying now. Let's just go to the kitchen, okay?' Alex, who was still shaking nodded and followed Logan out into the corridor where there was still a pack of students. Immediately she turned herself invisible and stuck close to Logan as they made their way downstairs. Once they arrived in the kitchen Logan shut the door and Alex became visible again. They sat at the kitchen table opposite of each other.

'So, this happens more often?'

Alex nodded: 'Every night.'

'I know what it's like,' Logan sighed.

'You also have nightmares?'

'Every night,' he replied using her words on purpose.

'What are they about?'

'I don't know. I lost my memories years ago, and in my dreams I see flashes of them. They're not very happy.'

'You're lucky,' Alex said. 'If I lost my memories I'm not sure I'd want to get them back. There are so many painful things…'

'Yes, but they also have moments worth remembering. Right?' Alex nodded and they sat in silence for a moment before Shadowcat and Storm came in.

'Alex, are you alright?' Alex nodded and wiped away the treacherous tears that had marked her cheeks.

'I'm fine. I'm sorry for causing such an uproar, and for the damage.'

'Don't worry too much about it,' Storm reassured her. 'One of the good things about a school full of mutants is that there is always someone to help you with everything. Jake and Kyle will probably enjoy this even.' She smiled at Alex. 'What we need to do is find some other arrangements for you since this is not a good option if you are to have more of these nightmares. We could set you up in a single room, but I don't know if that would help.'

'I can just sleep in my car,' Alex concluded. 'They're a bit less bad when I do that.'

'That's not gonna happen, kid. Don't want you to destroy the garage.'

'Then what else?' Shadowcat asked.

Logan sighed, realising the situation he'd gotten himself in: 'Put her in the room across mine. If she has another nightmare, I'll go check on her.'

'Are you sure, Logan?' Storm asked.

'I seem to be capable of calming her down. Better make use of that, right?'

'You really shouldn't have to. I'll just leave, I'm too much of a problem to you.'

'Sit down, kid. After the trouble you've put me through, I'm not just going to let you leave. You're part of this group now, start acting like it. It's a mismatched bunch of freaks, but they look after each other.' Alex smiled at this and agreed.

A day later she was moved into the new room, but upon deciding that it was far too big for her she moved herself into the broom closet next to Logan's room and gave the large room to the brooms and buckets. It didn't take long for Logan to not have to get up every night anymore.


	5. Return of the Past

**The Return of the Past**

_With Explosions and Flashbacks_

It had been six weeks since Alex had entered the school now. Never before had Alex gone to school. Having been on the run for so long she had never gotten a chance to make real friends either. Despite the fact that studying was really hard, Alex enjoyed school. Mostly because she was making friends. And all of them had different powers. There was Bailey, who everyone called Black Widow, Black for short, because she could make webs like a spider and walk over the threads. There was Ivy, who was also called Beam because she could shoot laser beams from her hands. Louis, who had called himself Key, he was a shape-shifter with a speciality in lock picking. Wright, who had a set of wings on his back and so his real name sufficed. Sarah, nicknamed the Chameleon for obvious reasons. And last but not least Julian, aka Thunderbolt, who had unsurprisingly power over everything electrical. Although he wasn't very capable of controlling it.

She hung out with her friends after school, she got three meals a day, had a nice bed to sleep in, and didn't have to wake up at every sound in the middle of the night anymore. And her nightmares had severely decreased since she had nicked a few beers and cigars of Logan's stash in her first week, causing her broom closet to smell like them. She also liked her teachers. Rogue's class was for a very select few who had difficulty controlling their powers. She was now human, but she used to suck out the life of everyone. It sounded absolutely awful, but it had gotten Alex a newfound respect for Rogue. And then of course there was a class every once in a while, taught by the one and only Wolverine. He absolutely hated it, which made it all the more fun for Alex.

She was happy. Very happy even. But as they were continuing into her seventh week there, it started happening again. It started with a fever in the middle of the night that caused the nightmares to get worse. Every few minutes she would wake up gasping for air. She'd scream loudly and Logan had to come running to stop her in her fever induced panic attacks. But it wasn't until next morning that the real signs actually started showing. Alex kept flickering between crystal form, invisible and normal, and she knew it was going to go wrong very soon. And it did. She felt the pressure starting to build within herself during breakfast making her jump up and she ran off, screaming at her friends that they shouldn't follow her.

Of course they ignored her warning as she went into the gardens at full speed. Once she thought she was far enough away from the mansion she forced herself into crystal and noticed the blue sparks within her body.

'Alex?' Black asked.

'Stay back! It's going to explode!' Alex screamed.

'What?!' Ivy exclaimed.

'I have no control over it anymore. Get back before you get hurt!' And as she said that the sparks started jumping between her hands. Blue sparks ran all over her body and she was glad to see her friends retreat to get help. Her head felt about to explode and adrenaline ran through her body. The pressure was building.

'Lex!' They were there again.

'Stay back! Stay back!' she screamed in desperation, but, while most headed her warning, Logan didn't listen. The blasted idiot. She was shaking.

'Lex!'

'Don't-,' but it was too late. Her voice was caught in her throat as the energy collected in her chest. All air was knocked out of her. And then it exploded. The blue sparks becoming deadly shards in every direction. Alex was thrown against the ground and everything turned black. Logan groaned as he got up. Storm rushed past him as Rogue kneeled next to him.

'Are you alright?'

'I'm fine. What the hell was that?'

'It seemed like her plasma grenade exploded inside her.' Storm gently touched the girl and the moment she did Alex became invisible.

'We need to get her inside,' Storm said. Alex became visible again in human from. She was red-faced and her breathing was heavy.

'She's burning up,' Rogue said. A blue plasma spark struck Storm. She screamed and clutched her arm to her chest.

'We'll bring her into the bunker,' Storm said. 'Logan, can you handle it?' Logan grunted in reply and went over to pick her up. Maze led the way, but it didn't go as smoothly as they had expected. Logan dropped Alex three times along the way. Sparks kept on flying, destroying everything around her. She would flicker between visible and invisible and sometimes she would move so fast that all you saw was a shining flash before she hit Logan full on. By the time they had finally gotten to the bunker she had blown up a couch, two pot plants, a vase, three chairs, a bookcase, a cupboard, seven ceiling tiles, eight floor tiles and fourteen lights. They locked the door and stayed outside.

'I feel kind of bad for locking her in there,' Rogue said as they stood outside.

'She warned us herself,' Logan said.

'Still, no child should have to be locked in the bunker because of their mutant powers,' Storm joined in.

'You'd rather have her blow up the entire school?' Logan snorted.

'There is no point in fighting over it. Until we can find out how to help her someone will have to stay here and watch over her,' Storm concluded.

'It's a shame that Tinman has gone to Australia. He would have been able to stay in the same room without a problem,' Rogue said.

'What kind of mission is he on?' Logan asked Rogue.

'He's taken Feline to round up three mutants who are on a rampage after the powers of one of them went out of control. They were supposed to have returned rather quickly, but finding the mutants turned out to be a bit more difficult than expected since they have both a teleporter and a telepath,' Storm replied in Rogue's place.

Rogue nodded: 'Then, who will stand guard here?'

'I will,' Logan grunted. 'If there's really something wrong I can go inside and check on her.'

'Are you sure?' Rogue asked.

'Go before I change my mind,' he bit back.

'Thank you, Logan,' Storm said. With that they all left. Logan pulled up an old metal chair and positioned himself near the door. This was going to be a long day.

He was right about that. The guarding was downright tedious. He first two times he was startled by sudden explosions, but they occurred so often that he got used to them in no time at all. He was basically doing nothing in the grey corridor that led to the bunker. There was no one else. He wouldn't have liked someone else. Making small talk was not his forte, and in a situation like that he would be forced to. Or at least expected to do so. No he preferred solitude to having to join in on chitchat. But that didn't mean he wasn't bored. He was on to his fourth cigar in the three hours he had sat there and only seconds ago he had for the first time considered going in.

The explosions had been there all the time, but this one had been the worst by far. I had gone on and on like a never ending thunderstorm. As if she was trying to destroy herself. He had heard her screams. In pain and fear she had cried out so loudly he had been able to hear her through the door. Nearly he had jumped up and thrown open the door, but the biggest explosion so far had occurred. Logan could feel it even through the door. After that it had fallen silent.

'Logan, are you there?' Logan jumped up. He had not expected Alex voice to come through the door. She was speaking very weakly, but apparently the last explosion had damaged the door so much it was now thin enough.

'Lex? Are you alright?'

'I just wanted to talk.' Logan leant against the wall next to the door.

'What did you want to talk about?'

'It doesn't really matter.'

'Well, are you feeling any better?' he asked as he sat against the wall right next to the door.

'I don't know,' she said weakly. 'I'm visible and don't feel like I'm about to explode, but… I feel so awful.'

'You had a fever.'

'It's never been this bad,' he could now hear her voice crack and for a really short moment she reminded him of Rogue back in the beginning. A girl simply terrified of her own powers.

'Do you want anything?'

'Could you… Could you just talk with me for a while?'

'Eh… sure? So, this happens more often?'

'Every time I get a new power something happens, but it's gotten worse over time. The last few years it's gotten quite bad. .'

'What was your first power?'

'Speed. I realised that sometimes the world seemed a bit slower. When I got invisibility I couldn't stay in one place for two days.'

'Are you alright in there?'

'You worried?' she replied jokingly, but still in that soft voice that showed how ill she really was.

'Whatever gave you that idea? I hate everyone, remember?'

'Everyone but Rogue. Are you in love with her?'

'Okay, now that is mad. Why would you think that?'

'Because you are rather protective of her, while you seem about the same age.'

'That's part of the healing power, it slows down aging. I'm probably closing in on about 200. I met her when she was still a kid.'

'200? I never would have guessed. Do you think it will work on me too? The slowing down aging thing?'

'I dunno, kid.'

'I'm not sure if I'd want it. If it meant continuing all this mess.'

'This will go away in time.'

'But it can't get the past years back.'

'That's the good thing about living so long. You get the chance to make enough good memories to make up for the past.'

'Did you have a bad past?'

'The worst.'

'Will you tell me?'

'You sure you want to hear?'

'Would I have asked if I didn't?' And so Logan caved and told the story. On the other side of the door Alex was listening with her head rested against the wall. Her cheeks were flushed, but she was close to shivering. Her head felt heavy and she thought she was would hurl if she moved. His story kept her thoughts away from how awful she was feeling and she was very grateful for that. For after all, it was not a particularly fun story.

Logan told about not having memories and being on the run. The told about people he'd met and lost too soon. And about how time could do terrible things. But he also told about the places he had seen, how he had met Rogue and the Professor and the adventures he had gone on. When he finally reached the present, Alex was quiet. This surprised him since she had seemed to have a comment on everything he said in the past few weeks. Maybe she had fallen asleep.

'Lex? Are you awake?'

'I am,' she replied.

'You ought to catch some sleep,' he said.

'I'm too cold to sleep. And I'm afraid that if I'll sleep the ceiling will come down.'

'It's designed to withstand a nuclear attack, I think it can handle you.'

'I'm not so sure,' Alex reached for the door and the moment she touched it, it fell off it's hinges and clattered on the ground next to Logan. He looked around the corner and stared at the sickly girl. She looked up at him with tired blue eyes.

'It can withstand a nuclear attack from the outside, not from the inside,' she muttered and then shivered. There was no point in staying outside now she had blasted the door and she needed him. Logan got up and stepped inside the bunker. The walls were singed, all lights had come down and there were even cracks in the concrete. This was the power of that girl. She must nearly equal an atomic bomb. But at the moment she seemed to be incapable of even carrying herself.

'It's cold,' she muttered. With the door open the temperature in the bunker must indeed have dropped slightly and at the moment she would be sensitive to just about everything. He sat down next to her and she immediately moved closer to him. He wasn't even sure she was doing it consciously, but as soon as he felt her trembling he wrapped his arm around her and let her rest her head on his shoulder.

'Thank you,' she said softly. 'You're warm and soft, like a teddybear.'

'You're the first one to say that,' Logan commented both slightly annoyed by the comparison, but at least equally as much amused by her behaviour. In the past weeks he had noticed how much she resembled him. She was closed off. The had harsh words for anyone she disliked or simply didn't know, but her friends meant very much to her and she went to great lengths to protect them. And even he was sometimes surprised at the foul language she could produce. Whenever it came to that they would separate her from the other students to protect their fairly innocent minds. In her first week she had found his stash of beer and had taken a couple to a yet to be found place, and she was the only one in the entire building not bothered by the smoke of his cigar. This behaviour definitely was uncharacteristic for her.

However, they sometimes tended to forget that she was still a thirteen year old girl who had lost both her parents in a rather cruel way. She shared some of the emotions of the other students. She was scared of her own powers because she didn't know them, but was still hunted for them. She missed her parents like they all did. But then she would completely make them forget that again when she would forget that there actually was a bathroom available and would go outside to do her business. Or when she was caught saving her food for days she got injured, as if she was expecting the food supply to run out. Or when she'd completely ignore the fact that there were guys in their room as she changed late at night when they'd just be chatting in their room.

But definitely her strongest attribute that made her different was her need for solitude. She had been so used to it, craving human contact, that now suddenly getting it was too much. More often than not she would suddenly be completely untraceable. Of course she would always return after some time, but at times she had definitely had the others worried. Storm let it slide because she knew Alex wouldn't leave the mansion and that the girl was safe. She was trying very hard not to push her away, something that was usually easy as Storm was just a very likable person. Still Alex drew towards Logan. Again she was one of a very few who did that. Basically it was just Alex and Rogue, but that was it.

'Someone ought to say it,' Alex sighed as a reply to his previous comment. They sat in silence for a few moments before she spoke again: 'I feel awful.' Another thing about Alex was that she lied excessively. At least when it concerned her welfare. Even when they all could see she was upset, tired or whatever, she would insist she was fine. Even the time when she had been in a mock fight with Spikes, a boy who had nails coming from his body at his command, and she had gotten a huge blow on her back by his spikes. She had been bleeding profusely, but she had insisted she was fine and walked away. An hour later she had reappeared, indeed completely fine, but this was just to demonstrate the lengths she would go to just to not have anyone worry about her.

And that was why Logan allowed himself to actually worry about her for just today: 'You need some sleep.'

'I can't.'

'Still cold?'

'No, I just feel awful. I've never been ill like this. I've felt worse, but never due to illness.'

'You've exploded before?'

'No, but I have spent two months lost in the desert thinking my head might explode.'

'You've been lost in the desert?'

She nodded against his shoulder: 'With my dad, two years ago.'

'What happened?'

'We were trying to shake a few guys when we were in Egypt.'

'Egypt? How did you get to Egypt?'

'When we fled India we passed through warzone after warzone and my dad would not have survived there. So eventually we managed to catch a boat from Israel to Egypt.'

'You said you were thirteen?'

'It's a sad background story.'

'Tell me about it,' Logan sighed.

Silence fell, but not for very long: 'Do you want to know?' she asked.

'You sure you wanna tell me?'

'Might keep my mind occupied. Besides, I'll have to tell it to some of you sooner or later if we're to find out what is happening. Better have it be you than to get those wimps to tears.' This sounded a bit more like her and Logan felt somewhat relieved that she definitely did feel better. However, she then shifted so she was even closer to him and he knew she was still far from okay.

'My dad always told me that we were an ordinary mutant family until I started showing my first power. Children of two mutant parent had before either never survived or had had no powers. A male mutant parent would result in children being born with that mutation. Female mutant parent would result in no powers. It was a miracle that I did have powers and was alive. They tried to keep it a secret, but before long it was leaked. And one day they came. I think they weren't mutants, but from the anti-mutant part of the government. They wanted to take me, but of course my parents refused and we had to flee.

'We went to seek help from the mutant community, but it soon became clear that among the ranks of the mutants there were many out for me to for an unknown reason. We escaped, but it cost my mum her life. After that we were just on the run. In the beginning my dad would sometimes get some jobs, but mostly we were just travelling to stay ahead of them. They were always near. Government and mutants. The first year we tried to stay with friends of dad, but they more often gave us up to protect themselves, than not. And if they actually tried to protect us they ended up being killed. We learned to stick with the two of us and never stay in one place longer than two days.

'We lived of my dad's savings and whatever we found. But they were always on our heels and even the slightest mistake could lead to them to find us. The government had eyes and ears everywhere, even when we went to Alaska and eventually Canada to get away from them. The mutants just followed our trail and never let it get cold. Eventually my dad told me that he had known for a long time now that we had to leave the continent in order to ever rest. And so we caught a plane to Paris and started moving around the capital cities of Europe, hoping we could disappear within the crowds.

'However, they found us too easily and more and more mutants came after us. With them after us we couldn't exactly live within the law and soon we had local authorities after us everywhere we went. That combined with the mutants after us led us to leave the crowds and we sought safety in a smaller towns. We actually managed to settle in a really small village in Central Russia that had no electronics at all. We were basically cut off from the world, but at least we were safe.

'That was until they came. I must have been ten around the time and we had been in the village for a bit over half a year. We had considered ourselves safe and dropped our guards. They had suddenly been everywhere and there was nowhere we could go. They captured us and took us to a facility less than a day's travel away. We had no idea what they wanted or who they worked for and were basically at a complete loss for what to do.

'The first day they seemed to be leaving us be, but the second day they took me away from my dad. I may have been mature for my age at that time, but I absolutely panicked without him in view. I didn't even hear the questions they were asking me and I struggled so badly against everything they did that they couldn't get a thing done. It went on like that for a few days until they figured out I really wouldn't do a thing without my dad present. And so they brought in my dad. They asked questions about my powers and kept on taking more and more of my blood every day.

'I don't know how long I've spent there, but at some point I felt myself getting sick. I had problems staying visible, I kept on shaking really fast and I had this really bad itch all over my body. I started struggling during interrogation again as they were now moving on to more drastic measure to figure me out. My blood had given them nothing and neither had their questions, so they were bringing in mutants. I felt not good and I slung everything I could carry around with telekinesis. In they end they got really fed up with me and resorted to torture.

'My dad was removed from the room and they did horrible things to me that I don't want to talk about. I cooperated in the end, but when I was thrown back to my dad my skin was coming off. I was bleeding really badly and it was getting worse by the minute. We didn't know it was my new power back then and my dad lost it. He started causing trouble the next time they tried to interrogate me. In the torture they took it further and further as they figured out I had healing abilities and I grew weaker every day. My dad was completely mental and a few days later he got himself knocked out. I nearly exploded. The rage fuelled my telekinesis to carry three times my own weight and we broke out.

'We spent three days in the snow trying to get to safety. We would have frozen to death had it not been for the railway tracks we came across. The train took us to China where we managed to disappear in the crowds with a group of friendly mutants. I turned out to have excellent healing abilities and with some time even the scars I had had left in the beginning disappeared. China did us good and we stayed there for quite a while before we were found by some international crime agency. We moved on to India and there stole a car to travel on, but this time it was the CIA that caught us.

'Again I was the one they tried to interrogate. About my powers, about how I got them, how I used them. Luckily they were a bit easier to get away from than the mutants and we moved through several war zones to shake them before we got to Israel and took the boat to safety in Egypt. But in Egypt they all found us again and with our stolen car we had no choice but go straight into the desert. It was terrible. We must have been lost there for over two months. We got so very close to dehydration nearly every day, and we were absolutely starving. The sun was so hot. It was a living nightmare. Eventually we managed to get to the river Nile.

'It didn't take long before they found us again and we went on the move to South Afrika. In South Afrika we got a cargo ship to New Zealand, a boat to Australia, but even that was not enough and they found us again. Every day there was an attack. We were exhausted and even with my newly developed diamond skin I couldn't do everything. Eventually we got caught in another ambush and my dad was bitten by a poisonous mutant, he died.

'I got away and snuck on a boat to Japan. I reached out to the mutant community there, but every family who offered me help ended up trying to capture me and collect a reward that had been set for me. I returned to the USA with my car and just stayed on the move. Eventually I found a way to bring traces just off my track and I got a chance to develop the plasma grenade. However, I destroyed my mirror house and ever since that day I've been on the move to just stay ahead of them.

'Until one day I stole a beer in a bar and I finally found you.' She closed her eyes. 'And I'm safe now.'

Logan gently patted her head: 'Sleep, Lexa.'

'Yes, dad,' and she was off to sleep.


	6. Blood in Common

**Blood in Common**

_With Wolverine_

It was Rogue who found them as she came to relieve Logan of his duty. As she saw the door that was lying on the ground completely useless she immediately assumed the worst and called out for Logan in sheer panic. Of course there was nothing wrong.

'In here,' Logan replied. Rogue nearly ran inside the bunker and panicked even more when she saw the state of the fortified concrete and whatever else was supposed to be in good condition. But then she saw Logan sitting on the ground with Alexandra curled up against his side. Logan took the cigar from his mouth and grinned cheekily at Rogue.

'Miss me?'

'Logan, what the hell?! You nearly gave me a heart attack!' Rogue exclaimed loudly.

'Hey, quiet. She's finally fallen asleep. Don't want to wake her up.'

'What is going on with her?' Rogue knelt down next to them so she was at level with Logan. Her voice was now quiet so they wouldn't disturb Alex.

'She's getting a new power. Apparently this has happened before, but she says it's never been this bad. It seems rather calm now.'

'Is there anything we can do for her?'

'I dunno. Letting her sleep is probably the best.'

'She can't possibly be comfortable like this. And you should stop smoking here,' Rogue hissed.

'There is not much else we can do if we want her to stay asleep. And she doesn't mind me smoking, so mind your own business.'

'Fine, but what if she gets upset again?'

'Well then just hope she doesn't get a nightmare,' Logan blew a puff of smoke. 'You'd better go inform Storm and whoever else is there. Maybe they can find a solution.'

'You're not going yourself?' Rogue whispered.

'Can't without waking her up,' Logan said. They both looked at the sleeping figure of the girl. She had a very light smile on her face and Logan hoped that that meant she was having a good dream. Gently he moved her hair so it was no longer bothering either of them.

'You know,' Rogue said as she got up. 'You kind of look like her dad at the moment.' She grinned and made sure to get away before he could do anything to her at close range. Again that comment. Logan slashed at Rogue, but she had already left. Why did they have to continuously keep telling him he was acting like he was Alex' father? He had steered clear of relationships like that for years. Even Rogue had he seen as a student, very much on purpose. Back then they had never commented on it, but somehow this time it was different. Maybe because Alex was younger, or because she was so difficult around the other students, or because she was messed up so badly.

Or because he was not discouraging it…

Still it hurt to hear this. The notion that he would never have a family that would live with him until he was old, hurt. Maybe that was why he understood Alex. She had lost her family in a cruel way, much like his happiness always seemed to be violently ripped away from him. They were alike in more ways than they realised in the moment, but would soon discover, but pain was at the core of all of this.

But Logan knew he cared a great deal for this mysterious girl. He was not yet ready to admit it, even to himself, but he actually hoped that her healing powers were strong enough to make her live as long as he did. Just one person who wouldn't die around him… But as said before, he wasn't ready to admit this yet since there was not such a great chance of that happening. So for now he just took care of this peculiar girl that resembled him so much.

Suddenly he felt her vest was getting wet under his fingers. He looked up at the ceiling, but there was no water coming down. Carefully he lifted up his fingers. Blood. Blood was seeping through the fabric of her vest and the grey material was slowly turning a dark red on several spots. Carefully he moved away from her. She whimpered, but he had to take a good look at her. The good dream had turned into a nightmare again. Her face was heavily flushed and her breathing was getting heavier. Her blue T-shirt and jeans were showing spots of blood.

'Dad, it hurts,' she whimpered. 'It hurts so bad.'

'Sh, sh,' he brushed a few hairs out of her face and turned her face up. She was dreaming. 'Lex.'

'Logan, save me,' her cheek broke open and blood came through. Her skin was basically peeling off of her. Logan didn't hesitate for a second but scooped her up in his arms and carried her out of the bunker. Once in the corridor he quickened his pace and rushed over to the infirmary where Tatiana was just sending off Spikes. Blood was by now dripping on the floor as Alex' skin was truly peeling off of her.

'Logan, what happened?' Tatiana asked shocked as Spikes froze at the sight of the blood dripping from her.

'I don't know, her skin started coming off.' The hint of fear in Logan's voice went unnoticed in the spur of the moment as he put the feverish, bleeding girl on the table.

'She's not exploding anymore?'

'Just help her!' Logan yelled loudly and, frightened by his behaviour, Tatiana didn't protest.

'Spikes, find Storm, Rogue and Bobby. And be quick. I'm going to need all the help I can get here.' Spikes ran off and Tatiana bet over Alex. Gently she placed her fingers on Alex' forehead to let her healing mutant powers do their work. But as soon as she did that Alex screamed in pain an her skin broke open under Tatiana's touch. Persistent Tatiana didn't let go as the dark red blood tainted her fingers, but seconds later she withdrew.

'Logan, get out.'

'What? Is it something bad?'

'Logan, get out now. My powers don't work so I'm going to have to do it the human way. Send Storm and Rogue in if you can.' Logan wanted to protest, but upon seeing Tatiana's firm look he hurried out. Alex was screaming in pain drifting somewhere between asleep and awake. When Storm and Rogue arrived Logan sent them in and stayed outside with Bobby. It was awful. Inside he could hear Alex screaming for help. She called for her dad, she called his name, she called for anyone to come help her and he knew it was the nightmare which she was reliving again.

Suddenly the door burst open and Rogue dragged him and Bobby in. They were asked to hold down Alex when she would trash around. The girl was lying still on the table, blood oozing out of her and pooling on the table. But as soon as either Storm or Tatiana tried to touch her to put in the needle she trashed so violently that it was impossible. It took all four of them to hold her still enough so Tatiana could put in the needle, but as soon as it broke through her skin Alex jolted awake with a piercing scream that hurt their ears. She pulled herself free, tore out the needle and fell of the table as she fought with herself.

'Get them out of me! Get them out!' It was the most gruesome sight to behold and it pained Logan to the deepest of his core that he was not able to do anything for her. Tears were rolling over the cheeks of Storm and Tatiana as they could do nothing but watch as Alex pulled off even more skin in her frenzy of pain and panic. He couldn't stand this. He could not stand by and watch as she was destroying herself. He threw himself forward to wrap her in his arms. He caught her in his arms, grabbing both her wrists with his hands as he pulled her back against his chest. She struggled, but he didn't loosen his grip on her.

'It's okay, it's okay. I got you now.' Her shivering form now also shuddering with sobs seemed to surrender to his grasp as she curled up into him.

'It hurts, Logan. It hurts so badly.'

'I know, Lex,' he replied.

'They have to get out.' Tears were joining the blood and the salt pricking in her skin made her wince.

'They will. You'll be fine.'

'Don't let them take me.'

'I won't.'

'Don't leave me.'

'I promise. I promise,' then she sunk limp into his arms and Logan had to clench his teeth not to cry.

'Is she..?' Rogue barely chocked out.

Tatiana knelt down and took her pulse with trembling fingers: 'She's alive, but barely.' Vigorously she wiped away the tears from her cheeks: 'Bobby, drop the temperature in the room, we have to stop the bleeding. Rogue, get some wet cloths. Storm, get more blood bags. And Logan, hold her still. We can't strap her down so have to be careful.' All bustled about. The temperature in the room dropped significantly and the bleeding slowed down a bit. With the wet cloth Tatiana cleared some blood on Alex' bare thigh and put in the needle for the transfusion there. Logan was too busy with holding her still and checking her pulse to notice the oddity of the location where they put in the needle. The amount of blood all around them must have been nearly all the blood the girl had in her body. Her pulse was so weak and Tatiana had to give nearly five blood bags before Alex' pulse seemed to become somewhat normal again. Her bleeding had stopped because of the cold and the dried blood formed crusts on her skin that was torn or even completely gone peeled in some places.

Upon Tatiana's request Logan put Alex back on the table that had been cleared of blood by Rogue. Alex was as pale as a ghost, despite her fever that was still burning her up. She seemed completely fragile in her blood soaked T-shirt and underpants. The crusts on her face and blood in her hair made her hardly recognisable.

'What was happening?' Bobby asked as he still held Rogue tightly to him. The two were still shaken with the events that had just occurred.

'She was having a terrible nightmare. I think it was a memory of her being tortured for information she didn't have.'

'She has been tortured?' Storm asked.

'I don't find that hard to believe,' Tatiana said a little shakily. 'I couldn't get the needle in because she has a piece of metal in her arm. We'll have to do an X-ray to confirm this, but I think she has more of these shards.'

'Then do an X-ray,' Storm was now recovering and took back charge. 'She's calm now, but who knows for how long.' Tatiana immediately set up the machine and made several photographs which were quickly assembled on the screen.

'So that was what she wanted to get out,' Bobby breathes as Rogue gasped and stepped closer into his embrace.

'It's not like Logan, but they seem to be fastened into her skeleton. They must hurt with every move she makes,' Tatiana spoke horrified. It was clear on the X-rays. Several triangular pieces of metal with sharp edges were screwed into her joints and stuck in her skin, including one right over her heart.

'Can you do anything for her?' Logan asked.

'Not now she's in this condition. She's not as indestructible as you are. But even sustaining herself like this would not have been possible if she had not had amazing healing powers. Any other person would have died. She'll recover.'

'So, she'll have to live with this?' Rogue asked.

'At least until she's recovered from this. Then I can see what we can do for her.' They all looked at Alex who laid shivering on the table, unconscious, covered in goosebumps, and only colour on her flushed cheeks from the fever.

'She's cold,' Logan spoke.

'We'll have to move her to a warmer place to make sure her fever doesn't get worse,' Tatiana declared.

'Logan, wrap her in a clean sheet and take her to our room. You're the only one who can calm her down so you are going to watch over her for the next few days.'

Logan had no qualms with this whatsoever. All he really wanted at this moment was for her to be safe. With Alex wrapped up in the white sheet they got into the elevator. The movement had opened a few of her wounds again as they could see when her arm fell out of the cocoon of white cloth. Very slowly the blood trickled down her arms to her fingertips and over her legs to her ties where it finally fell as droplets to the ground.

On the ground floor, outside the elevator to the basement, Alex' friends were waiting for news, but when they saw the limp girl in Logan's arms all of them were horrified with the sight. Bobby and Rogue stayed with them to share whatever they deemed appropriate of Alex' condition, while Logan moved on. Students cleared the way for him as he climbed the stairs to his quarters with the weak girl. Drops of blood left a trail behind and the white coverlet around Alex was getting more tainted every second. Storm followed Logan to his room, but after she had made sure that Alex was properly tucked in she left to return some calm to the rest of the school.

Logan sat on the other side of the double bed and kept watch next to her sleeping form. Sometimes she'd whimper lightly, but when he put his hand on her head to gently stroke her hair she completely calmed down. He would protect her. His little girl, Alexandra. He would protect her.

It was quiet. Logan sat by Alex' bedside all the time. Sometimes one of the other members of staff would come to ask about her condition, but he never had any news and so they would leave quickly. Logan didn't mind. He let his thoughts run free, he read books and just watched her. Her expression changed every second and she seemed to be living through years of her life again in her dreams. He saw pain, anguish and fear cross her features, but also light smiles, courage and curiosity. But in the morning of the third day he saw the tear. One lone tear escaped her eye other than that her expression was blank and it remained blank.

He remembered her story in every detail she had told him and there was only explanation. She had reached her father's death. He knew how everything numbed after something like that happened. She had had nothing in the world but her father and she had lost him. He resisted the urge to take her up in his arms and hold her so she wouldn't have to live out her terrible dreams alone. He didn't want to open her wounds again.

'Logan?' Shadowcat appeared through the door: 'How is she doing?'

'Still sleeping. Will be for a little while longer,' Logan replied softly as he looked down at the sleeping girl. Shadowcat now fully came through the door with a tray in her hands. On it was breakfast, coffee and a cigar. Storm had very purposefully made sure he didn't have access to those as he watched over the girl, claiming that it would be bad for her health. Now Shadowcat was actually offering him one.

'Rogue and I decided you'd deserved this,' she said with a light smile as she put the tray down next to him. 'Don't tell Tatiana though.'

'Thanks,' Logan nodded as he first picked up the cup off coffee. Shadowcat nodded and slipped out of the room through the door again. Alex was still completely quiet as he ate his breakfast. But as soon as he lit his cigar something changed. A frown disappeared as soon as it came and melted into a light smile before her eye flickered open.

'You're here,' the relief was audible in her voice.

'I promised you, didn't I?' She smiled and tried to sit up, but was held back by her own lack of strength and she winced when she opened up a few wounds with the movement. 'Wow, take it easy, kid. You're in pretty bad shape.'

'I know,' she replied. 'I've just never had time to attend to it in the past.' She looked up at him: 'Was it scary?'

'You don't know half of it,' he replied.

'It's never been this bad before. If I hadn't found you I probably would have gotten caught.'

'Or you would have died. Apparently you lost over two litres of blood, which is quite impressive for your size.' Alex didn't reply to this, but moved slightly, clearly uncomfortable with the fact that everything was stuck to her with dried blood. 'You want me to get Tatiana to you cleaned up?'

'Not yet,' she replied. 'Can I ask you something else?'

'Sure,' he replied.

'Did you see them?'

'See what?'

She took a deep breath: 'The… The…Things in my body.' She couldn't even say the words. She couldn't bring herself to talk about those objects that had been torturing for three years now. The things that haunted her worst nightmares and kept her awake without a single thought troubling her mind. The things that brought her off balance, made her misstep and fall.

'The metal shards?' Fear appeared in her eyes, but he knew that was what she meant. 'We saw an X-ray.'

'You can't get them out, can you?'

'Not with you like this.'

'Oh,' she turned her eyes to the ceiling. 'Then I guess I'll be even more like you.'

'It's not a good thing to be like me, Lex.'

'I know. It means nightmares, misunderstandings, people hunting you, people knowing more than you and a lot of pain.'

'You're right.' He laid down next to her, still smoking his cigar.

'Are you scared?'

There was something in her voice that made him turn to look at her before he answered: 'No, are you?' Silence fell. She didn't answer. Her face was showing she was troubled as she stared at the ceiling. She wasn't sure if she should admit to this or if she should just hold it back like she always had. But eventually she gave in.

'I'm really scared,' she said. 'But being scared will only get me caught again.'

'What are you afraid of?'

'Being betrayed by people again, hurting any of you who have been so nice to me, losing any of you. I'm scared of running again. I'm scared of who's after me. I'm scared of the mysterious people who lead them. I'm scared that I won't make it without my dad. I'm scared of the dark, metal triangles, abandoned parking lots and salt water.' She turned her head towards Logan and he looked back at her.

'You're very brave then.'

'I don't want to be brave. I just want my dad. I just want to be able to be scared, to be able to rely on someone blindly because I know they'll have my back always.'

'Then I'll protect you. Whatever happens I'll try and protect you to the best of my abilities.'

'Really?' Her eyes glittered with hope.

'I promise.' She smiled and that was when Logan noticed it. A large crust on her cheek broke, but no blood came through it. He carefully brushed his thumb over it and the crust just fell of. She skin was completely healed, just a very light scar was left, but even that was visibly disappearing.

'It's healed, isn't it?' she asked.

'You're quite strong,' Logan remarked.

'I'd better be,' she smiled. 'But I'm not alone in that. We both are.'

'Another thing we have in common.'

'I don't mind this one,' she cracked a smile and Logan couldn't help but return it.

With help from Tatiana Alex was cleaned up. She was still fairly weak since she had not only lost a lot of blood but for the past two days she had also had nothing to eat or drink. As told by Storm and Tatiana Alex was confined to Logan's room for at least two more days with Logan to watch over her. The first day she was incapable of doing anything at all and instead she spent time watching movies with Logan.

**Hey! I'll just say it straight away. THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO READS THIS STORY. I've poured three months of my time into this story and I really hope you like it.  
I would love to get some reviews from you guys so I know what you like about the story and how I can improve. **

**Anyway, thanks and don't forget to review!**


	7. Time to Move on

**Time to Move On**

_With Danny and the Carters_

All of Alex' wounds had healed much in the same fashion Logan's wounds usually would and after eating drinking and sleeping properly with only one fairly short nightmare she was absolutely fine the second day. She was not allowed to leave the room however and so she had Logan teach her games, which they were both terrible at. She was terribly restless and when Logan went to the bathroom at some point she had disappeared. In their search for her they also found her two daggers and a training dummy missing.

It was not as if she was hiding from them, she was just bored. They found her practising with the dummy in the garage. She had injured herself slightly in a particularly difficult move, but other than that she was absolutely fine. Tatiana of course was immediately being fuzzy about the small cut on Alex' cheek, but Alex stopped her, wiped away the blood and they could see the cut heal like Logan's wounds usually did.

'I think I figured out my new power,' she grinned.

'New power?' Storm asked.

'Yeah, every time something like this happens, I get a new power. Only, this time it's not really a new power.'

'What do you mean?' Tatiana asked.

'I think it's sort of like an upgrade,' Alex looked at her own hand as if that would show the answers. 'I used to have level 1 to level 2 healing powers, this is far better. Maybe level 3 or 4, I'm not sure.'

'What do you mean by level 4?'

'You're not familiar with the level system?' Alex asked surprised. 'Nearly all sniffers use it, except for the level three ones, they use percentages, but that is pretty much the same. Depending on your power and the strength of that power you have a certain level of power, or percentage of mutant in you. The ones with level 0 or between 0 and 10 percent of mutation are the humans, from that it increases. The strongest mutant ever was apparently a 100 percent, level 5, but she had no human element anymore and lost control. That's why the strongest mutants are level four. I'm a three and a half, but I'm growing, which is something most mutants don't anymore. Don't you have a sniffer here?'

'Well, we have Danny, but…' Storm looked at Tatiana.

'His mental illness makes it difficult for him to communicate with us. He's constantly rating everyone around him and hardly does anything else. We thought it was his way of naming people.'

'Do you think I could talk to him? He might be able to tell if it's indeed increased healing powers.'

'It might be worth a try,' Storm said. 'Then at least we'd know if he's indeed rating powers.'

'He sounds like a sniffer,' Alex shrugged.

'Will you, please, not use that term? It sounds offensive,' Storm asked as they started to move to Danny's room. Alex shrugged again, but didn't reply.

'Danny, can we come in? There's someone here to see you.' Danny sat on his bed as Storm opened the door to let Alex and Tatiana enter before her. The boy looked up and stared at Alex as if he was trying to gauge her, which she knew he had to be doing. She was usually not as easily readable as others.

'Danny, this is Alex.'

'Hiya, Sniffer,' Alex said as she smiled at him.

It took him a second but then he returned the smile: 'Hiya, Fox.' Storm and Tatiana looked confused at the interaction before them.

'Can you read my powers?'

'Yes,' Danny replied again, but didn't continue on that.

'What level are my powers?'

'Which powers?'

'All of them,' Alex said now pretty anxious to hear the verdict.

'Level 1 telepathy, level 1 telekinesis, level 2 acceleration, level 3 diamond skin, level 3 flexibility, level 3 healing abilities, level 4 plasma grenade, total level 3.5 and growing. What are my powers?'

'Level 2 power reading, right?'

'You are correct.' Suddenly he seemed to change as he grabbed her wrist very tightly; 'Run, they're coming very soon.'

'Who are coming?'

'The humans, all of them. Run until you are level 4.5. No one will challenge you then.' Then Alex hand seemed to fold itself double and slipped out of his grasp and she stumbled back. Danny seemed to sink further away into his own mind as he started counting on his fingers. He counted seven, then put down his right thumb and pointed at her with his right index finger before putting it to his lips as if to silence her.

'Are there others?' Alex blurted out. Again Danny counted to seven put down his right thumb and pointed at her with his right index finger before putting it to his lips and repeating the sequence again.

'Where are they?!' Alex now started, but Danny was in trance and he didn't let them know anything else. 'Where are they?! Tell me where they are!' But before she could get truly violent Tatiana and Storm dragged her out of the room.

'What are you doing?! He knows where they are! He knows where they are! I'm not alone. I'm not the only one, they will want them. They will save me! Let me go!' A student was sent to get Logan and he appeared within a minute. 'I hate you! I hate all of you! Let me go! I need to know where they are!' Alex was trashing in Storm and Tatiana's grip and that was the moment where Tatiana broke and slapped Alex across her face. Shocked Alex froze up and stared at the healer.

'Do you have any idea how egoistical you're sounding? You want to put them through the same thing you've gone through?'

'I just want it to go away. I just want them to stop hunting me! It is not fair! I lost everything because of what I am while they get to live happily! I can't get my dad back! I'm finally happy now! Now it's their turn to lose!'

'Lex, calm down.'

'You heard him didn't you.' She hit Logan hard at his words. 'They're coming again. They would be about ready to use nuclear bombs if they knew for sure they'd catch me with it. That's how far they are willing to go. Now tell me, can you protect everyone in this school from them?! I don't think so.'

'We promised you we'd protect you, and we will,' Storm said.

'Then let me find their locations. Even the slightest hint will send them off my track!'

'I have a better idea,' Logan suddenly spoke up. 'But you'd have to be willing to move again.' They tried to realise what Logan was saying and Storm was the first.

'Oh, no absolutely not. I will not have you drag Alex off to the most remote corners of the world. No, I will not.'

'You want to go and track them down?' Alex suddenly realised.

'Yes, but then we gather them here. You and them, you all seem to have more power than most. If we put all of you in one place, all of them will have to come here and they'll fight each other and we'll be able to protect ourselves better.'

'Logan, you're making no sense,' Storm said, but Alex followed.

'That actually sounds pretty alright, but then we'll need to know where they are.'

'I will not let you,' Storm said firm.

'Listen, Storm. You know as well as I do that she will just sneak out in the middle of the night and torture that boy until he's given every bit of information to her before she goes off and sent whoever is after her after them. We weren't even able to keep her in a room when she was bored, imagine if she really wanted something. We do it this way, we might actually all come out alive.' Storm stood there with her arms crossed and shaking her head, but both Alex and Logan could see her resistance crumbling.

'Fine, I know I'm not going to be able to stop either of you. Just, please, be careful.'

'Don't worry. We heal, remember?' Then the two of them entered Danny's room again.

'Hiya, Fox,' he said. 'Hello, Wolverine.'

'Hiya, sniffer,' Alex said as she sat down on the chair next to his bed. 'Could you tell me where they are?'

'No.' Danny shook his head.

'You'll have to be more specific,' Logan told Alex and she nodded before holding up seven fingers the exact same way he had. She put down her thumb, pointed at herself with her index finger before putting that one down two.

'Where are they?' she asked as she showed him the fingers. Logan was about so say that that wouldn't suffice, when Danny pointed at her middle finger.

'Loki is in Dutch Amsterdam with Nemesis,' he pointed at her pinkie finger with this before moving to her ring finger, 'Enki is next to the Camino a El Playón, Ma Gu is in Xi'an and Undine is in French Geneva.' Then he looked up at her: 'Only you are more than three, only Undine is less than three. Undine is very young, find her, please.'

'I will,' Alex replied. 'Thank you, Sniffer.'

'Goodbye, Fox. Goodbye Wolverine.' Logan didn't know what exactly had just happened, and why all those kids had such weird names, but at least they had places they could search. Well, they had giant cities they would have to scour.

'Nemesis?' Alex mumbled to herself as the door closed behind them, 'Why would he call someone Nemesis?'

'He's a bit peculiar,' Tatiana said.

'Are you sure you want to go?' Storm asked

'I have no choice,' Alex shrugged. 'If I ever want this to stop I'll need answers. And they might be able to give them to me.'

'Fine, but then leave in the morning. You'll both need to rest. I'll make sure you have some gear for your travel, and a proper vehicle. Can you fly the jet, Logan?'

'Oh no, that's not going to happen. We come by a jet and we'll never be able to track anyone down,' Alex spoke loudly as they reached the ground floor and entered Storm's office.

'Why not?' Storm asked.

'Because as soon as a private jet, chopper or anything of the sort lands anywhere near you when you're on the run, it is suspicious. And as soon as it's suspicious you run. You leave everything behind and you run like hell. We'll take my car.'

'Then how were you planning to cross to Europe and China?'

'Boat to China. If I could get from Japan to America with a car, then certainly we ought to be able to get to China. Then Logan wont have to fly any jet.'

'Which might not have been a good idea in the first place,' Rogue came in with Bobby, 'because Logan has a fear of flying. Storm, what is going on? The fact that you, Tatiana, Alex and Logan were absent is upsetting the students again.'

'Logan and Alex are going to track down the other second generation mutants,' Storm said. 'They'll be gone for quite a while.'

'You are? Is there anything we can do to help?' Bobby asked.

'You could get some tracking gear and stuff for travel,' Storm turned to Alex and Logan. 'If you're sure you can manage, then I'm fine with it. Just take care, okay?'

'Don't worry, I'll get her back without a scratch,' Logan said. And that was how it was arranged, they were going to move again. Alex could feel the travelling butterflies taking off in her stomach. She loved the travelling and this time it wasn't just to survive. It was to look around and find. She had been very happy to stay in a safe place for a while, but now it was time to move again.

The old pickup truck was actually kind of comfortable to drive after Alex' modifications, some sticks and bricks with a lot of duck tape, had been removed. It was a rather confined living arrangement. Back when Logan had been travelling on his own he had at least had his caravan, but Alex found the caravan too conspicuous and insisted they'd just use the truck. They had a tent, but on cold nights they'd just have to sleep in the cabin. Again, Alex complained because they didn't take turns driving and just kept on the move, but Logan was fully against it because she could only just reach the pedals while keeping her eyes on the road.

So they travelled south. Camino a El Playón was a street in the South East of Mexico, as Alex had found online. A very long street where they would somewhere find this Enki. Danny had given quite enough information on the whereabouts. After all, every city had but one in existence, or he'd given them another specification. There were five others, four places they had to find. Alex had fantasized about others back when she had still been with her dad. Her father had then told her that it was not nice of her to think of them, for if they were there they would be going through about the same thing she was.

They had just left the last village on the 307 and were in their last hour to the street where they would find Enki. Alex was tapping away on the laptop that Rogue had given them. Fortunately they also had a source of power behind their seats and in the car battery. There was a lot of stuff they had and Alex was happy with the comfort they provided. She was used to a lot less.

Also she had fallen back into her old habits of collecting food in her back for whenever they ran out, not requesting a toilet break at a road stop, like most females would, not changing clothes for days, which he didn't either, and digging through trashcans wherever they did stop in search of things that seemed edible enough. Fortunately for Logan she never made him eat anything like that and as soon as he reminded her they had money to buy proper food she put whatever she had found back in the trashcan. It was pretty amusing to see the girl be so comfortable with lacking everything and constantly being on the move.

She was fine with the scent of cigar smoke and them smelling until they found a lake. She had adapted to eating very little and taking every opportunity to save time in doing everything. She could curl up in her car seat and be off to sleep within seconds to awake when she felt fully rested, or to jolt awake after even the smallest sound. She wasn't bothered by nightmares, he had also noticed, unless they slept in the tent. And she didn't seem to get bored at all. She spent hours looking out of the window while he listened to radio.

'Hey, Logan do you know anything about mythology?' she suddenly asked.

'Ehm, no, why?' he turned down the radio to hear her better.

'I think I figured out why he called all of them by such weird names.'

'Really?'

'Uhuh, I recognised Loki, Nemesis and Undine somewhat, but now I remember. They're all deities. I've always loved reading about mythology and I've read quite a bit about the Norse and Greek mythology. I've also read about Undine. And now I've looked up Ma Gu an Enki. They're all gods and goddesses of some sort. I just don't know why he chose those names.'

'Maybe because of where they are or where they come from?'

'No, because then Loki and Nemesis would have some German deity while one of them is Norse and the other Greek, and Enki is Mezopotamian, that makes no sense at all. The only things I can come up with is things we can't confirm yet. Like appearance or powers or plain random.'

'Well, we're only a few minutes away from our first destination, so we'll see soon.' Alex shut down the laptop and put it away before sitting on her knees and looking out of the window. True to Logan's word they entered the small town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto where they would find the beginning of the road. Logan gassed up before they turned into the street that would eventually go over into the Camino a El Playón. There were a few buildings by the side of the road, but Alex immediately told Logan not to bother, for she didn't believe that their target would hide in a place that you could find so easily with technology.

Ironically they then passed the institute of technology. The buildings they left behind and the road got worse and worse after that. Still, Alex didn't believe they had any reason to search here. And so they moved on until the trees got so high they formed a tunnel for the pickup. Alex was now on edge, looking around her for some tiny sign that whoever Enki was, he might be here.

'Stop!' She suddenly yelled. They had been on the road for nearly an hour and a half before having taken a left turn and continuing for another half hour. Logan slammed the breaks as Alex nearly threw herself out of the car. Logan immediately did the same. She stopped two metres behind the car and was looking at a piece of snapped rope. She held it up as if it was a prize and he was supposed to see the value of it.

'This is a trap the car just sprang. It's old and has no alarm attached to it, but we definitely need to be here.' She started looking around for footsteps or skid marks. Logan put his nose in the air and quickly caught a whiff of someone cooking. It was not too far from the road, and exactly where Alex had found the rope.

'Down here,' he told her and after covering up their car and taking some necessities with them they started through the bushes. It was dense forestry, but Logan's claws made they got through. Now even Alex could smell the food and realised that these people hadn't been hunted in a long time. Somewhere deep inside her a very old feeling started to arise. When she heard laughter this grew exponentially.

'That boy is even good without all this technical equipment, I swear it was this big,' a male's voice said and now Alex saw the house. They laid low in the bushes, but she could see a man a woman and a boy sitting on a patio with a dog visible through the open kitchen door. They were eating a fish they had cooked on a barbeque and the mood was very happy. This could have been her. Happy, with both her parents. Why was she the one who had to lose everything?

Rage took her over and before she knew it she had used her speed to race over to the boy in the middle, who she immediately knew to be the one that Danny had called Enki. She grabbed him by his collar and pushed him against the walls of the wooden house.

'Are you comfortable?! Are you happy?! You don't deserve this, you,' and here we'll cut it off to avoid having to repeat the seriously awful vocabulary that Alex was using. The man had grabbed a rifle and shot Alex, but her diamond skin reflected the bullets straight away. Fortunately Logan reached the set by then and pulled Alex off of the boy.

'Lex, we're not here to hurt them,' Logan told her as he held her in his grasp.

'He's a freaking lazy ass. He should have been miles away already. He should have seen me coming! Why is he not running?!' Alex hit Logan away from her and turned back to the shocked family who were now staring at them in shock.

'It's been over five years since any of you people came to search for us,' the woman said. 'Why are you here?'

'Five years?' Now tears were pricking in Alex eyes. 'You've been left alone for five years?'

'Lex, calm down. Remember why we're here,' Logan tested his arm again to see it had fully healed. 'We're here because of Alexandra here. You may be able to help her.'

'Help her? How?' The man asked.

'Lex is like your son,' Logan said.

'She's a second generation?' Logan nodded. 'But then where is her mother?'

'Killed, eight years ago. And you mistake him for my dad, he isn't. My dad was killed last year. While you've built your safe little lives here I've been living on the run for eight years and they're still after me,' Alex snapped.

'Then what are you doing here? You could compromise us,' the man spoke loudly as he pointed his rifle at Logan this time.

'We are trying to gather all second generation mutants so none of them will have to run again.'

'Why would we leave? We have a nice life here,' the man spoke again. 'And how are we supposed to trust you?'

'Dad, wait. I don't think they're here to get us. I don't think they even know my powers.'

'Why?'

'Because they're too easy targets,' the boy lifted both his hands and Logan and Alex were pulled off the ground. Alex screamed in pain while Logan was unable to do a thing. The metal shards in Alex' body were making cuts under her skin and the pins pulled at her bones as if wanting to break them. The pain was too awful and she screamed and screamed until finally he let her down and she crumpled to the floor crying.

'You sick bastard,' she choked out through her tears.

Logan pulled out his claws and threateningly stood protectively in front of Alex: 'Don't you ever dare to do that again or I'll slit your throat in your sleep.' Then he turned to Alex who was slowly calming down.

'What did you just do?' The boy's mother asked.

'I just lifted her from the ground,' he defended himself.

'Alex basically has razors attached to her bones. Has had them for years. They were put there when she was tortured. She has gone through a lot and only has been able to find a safe place to stay two months ago. Whatever you've gone through, it will be nothing compared to what she has experienced.' Logan pulled Alex to her feet. 'Which is why we're trying to end the hunt for the second generations. We were hoping you'd be willing to join us.'

'Absolutely no-,' but the man was interrupted by the boy.

'Yes!'

'Samuel, it's not-.'

'Dad, we've been in hiding all this time. I want to make friends and actually live. I'm stronger now than I was back then, and we can fight together.'

'Sam, I don't know,' his mother spoke.

'Please, mom?'

'You can take your time,' Alex said. 'I can promise you that your location hasn't been compromised.'


	8. Cross Country

**Cross Country**

_With Tank and a mission_

Logan and Alex were invited to stay over for the night before the Carter, as was the Mexican, but originally American, family's last name, family would make their decision the next day. Logan had thrown himself to the task of convincing the adults, whose names were Bill and Clara, to come with them. They had fled to Mexico six years ago after Samuel had first started to show signs of powers and the government had come knocking on their door. Clara's power to talk with animals had come in most useful. The government seemed to have given up quite quickly.

'You actually know who's after you?' Logan asked.

'Of course we do,' Bill answered. 'The Party for Human Rights. It's formed of government officials and they kept on sending small armies after us in the States. Fortunately they don't have enough jurisdiction in Mexico to be able to do that now.' Logan made a mental note of that. The Party for Human Rights. He had heard of that before. He would have to ask Storm about that.

Meanwhile Alex had gone with Samuel and the dog Brandy to a small clearing where Sam usually practised.

'Look, I'm sorry about the threatening thing I did when–,' Alex started, but was interrupted by Sam.

'It's alright. I get that you would be angry because they only went after you. I probably would have done the same. Forgiven and forgotten.' He smiled and Alex returned it a bit hesitantly. 'Can you show me your powers?'

'Ehm, I guess.' She held her hand out to a tiny twig on the ground and lifted it up. Drops of sweat appeared on her forehead in concentration. Telekinesis was still her weakest power. With a sigh she dropped it.

'That was… okay?'

'You expected more right. I have a total of seven powers at the moment. Telekinesis is a level one, as is my telepathy, which means I can only look into the minds of people who are looking into mine. But this is level two.' And she started sprinting in a circle around him to stop right in front of him a few seconds later.

'Cool, and level three?'

Alex pulled up her diamond skin: 'I'm still figuring out the flexibility since I only got that a few days ago, and healing is quite difficult to show. But level four by far the most awesome. If I show it here, we'll have them on our trace, but I can throw plasma grenades.'

'Seriously, and I thought my abilities were cool!'

'Show me!' And Sam did. He put his hand out to the pile of scrap metal and it immediately started moving and unfolding. 'Wow.' Alex took a step back at the sight in front of her. 'You need a much cooler name than Sam.'

'A new name? Why?'

'Most mutants pick get a nickname because of their powers. Logan's nickname is Wolverine, almost everyone has heard of him.'

'I think I might have heard my dad about him once. He's like the oldest mutant ever.' Alex nodded. 'Cool, what's your nickname?'

'Don't have one yet, my dad used to call me Lex and Logan does that now, but everybody else just calls me Alex. I haven't had many other contacts yet, so no one has given me one.'

'I would like to give you a nickname, but I don't know you well enough yet. You think you could come up with one for me?'

'Tank,' Alex said. As she looked at the metal exterior Sam had created. He looked exactly like a tank.

'I can't get it to work though, I don't know how to figure out how to make it work on electricity since I don't have any gunpowder.'

'We'll figure that out later, there's some freakishly talented people in the school, and I haven't even met everyone,' Alex said. 'It was great at the school, and I think you'd like it.'

'Do you like it?'

'A bit, I get anxious when I stay too long in one place. I keep on thinking they will come to get me. That they will hurt everyone around me and torture me again. I guess it's a bit sad and maybe insane, but for me it's just normal.' She sighed. 'Guess this turned kind of into a sad story, didn't it?'

'It's not as if you can do much about it. I don't remember ever meeting anyone my age.' Tank put all the metal away. 'That's why I really want to go. I want to live and not be afraid anymore that they might come one day.'

'You and me both,' Alex said.

That night they slept in the guest bedroom of the Carter household. It had recently been built so that their family could come over at some point without them having to set up a tent. The house itself was pretty brilliant too. They had solar panels hidden in all the trees around them, so they wouldn't reflect too much sunlight, but gather enough energy. The entire house was built around a single large tree that hid it from view with all it's branches and leaves. They produced their own food, with Bill's ability to grow plants, kept animals, with Clara's powers they were very well taken care of, and had hardly any need to ever leave the woods. Only when repair works needed to be done Bill would go into town and buy the supplies, but that happened maybe twice a year.

The seclusion was however seriously affecting them and that was the reason why the next morning the Carter family agreed to leave. Logan and Alex provided them with a map showing the 55 hour route to the school. It had taken Logan and Alex a little over 5 days to get to Mexico, but the Carters were not used to the travel and would have to go a lot slower. Fortunately for all of them Alex and Logan were adapt at travelling and managed to make sure the journey went quite smoothly.

Ten days after their departure from Mexico they had returned to the X-mansion and Storm was visibly relieved to have them back all safe and sound with Tank.

'Thank god, you're here,' and in her intense relief she surprisingly hugged Logan who had no idea how to respond to this and stayed seemingly frozen in place.

'Ehm, Storm. Is everything alright?' Logan asked as Alex went with Rogue to get the new people settled.

Storm stepped away and looked Logan in the eye: 'Danny was right, they came for Alex two days after you had left. Humans, Maze recognised a few as FBI, but there were many more. Most of them were army people, but they were clearly led by the Party for Human Rights and Tatiana even spotted some Interpol agents among them. We were lucky that Tinman and Feline had returned, or we might have actually lost. We were able to hold them off long enough for them to realise that Alex truly was not inside, but we needed everyone outside. We needed you here.'

'Wait a minute,' Logan was confused. 'How did Tatiana recognise Interpol agents?'

'Tatiana worked for Interpol for a while,' Storm explained. 'But that is not the point!'

'Well, at least they now know that Alex is on the move again, so they won't try again,' Logan shrugged. 'We're going to China either tomorrow or the day after.'

'But I don't know if we can hold them off next time,' Storm was nearly panicking. 'We only just defeated them last time.'

'Then you should make good use of Tank, before that.'

'Tank?'

'Yeah, that's what Alex called the boy. Apparently he is a technopath and has magnetokinesis and electro-something. I can't remember the name, but it was something with making electricity and controlling it. He can actually form a tank around him and you get Maxwell on designing an electrical Tank, you'll have one.'

'Are you serious?' Storm asked.

'These kids, I've seen only one person who comes close to them in power, and that was Phoenix,' Logan said. 'They have multiple powers and even though they cannot control them fully they will figure it out eventually.'

'I was already amazed at Alex, but it seems that this new boy is even better than her. His powers seem to have more correlation. Rogue and I shall look into it,' Storm spoke.

Meanwhile Alex was joining the tour of the mansion Tank and his parents were getting.

'This brings back so many good memories,' Clara sighed as they walked down to the dining hall. 'Do you remember that one time when Tommy Williams had roots sprout from the beans?'

'That was hilarious,' Bill replied. 'But not as good as when Terry Nimmer sneezed and reversed gravity in the room.'

'So true, all the food on the ceiling, but it kind of hurt when we came down,' Clara smiled at the memory.

'You've gone to school here too?' Alex asked.

'Oh, yes, we have. We're originally from around here,' Clara explained. 'I'm from Danbury, which is just a few miles to the northeast and Bill is from New York.'

'Fox.' Alex whirled around as she immediately recognised the voice. Danny never left his room without a very good reason to.

'Sniffer, is something wrong?'

'They're waiting for you,' he grabbed her wrist forcefully and stared her straight in the eye.

'Who are waiting for me?'

'All of them. They will catch you. Yes, they will. No, they won't. If they're patient. I don't know if they are.' He put his nose in the air and smelled. 'Be quiet. Here she comes. Don't tell her.'

'Danny?!' Tatiana burst around the corner. 'There you are. You shouldn't go running off like that. Danny, are you bothering Alex? Let her go.' Tatiana grabbed the boy's shoulders as Alex managed to slide her hand out of his grip. Yup, flexibility had kicked in. Awesome.

'It's alright, Tatiana. I think something scared him,' she rubbed her wrist, which felt kind of weird and tingly after she had flexed it out of Danny's death grip. Tatiana dragged Danny away to his room.

'Why does he call you Fox?'

'Because I call him a sniffer, listen, I've got to go and find Logan. If I don't see you today, I'll probably be on my way to China.'

'China? Why?' Tank asked.

'Because there's someone else like us there. Danny called her Ma Gu. She's in some city in China. It will probably take a while before we've found her.'

'Maybe you could contact Arania,' Tank offered. 'She would probably find her really quickly.'

'How do you know about Arania?' Alex asked.

'How do you know her?' Tank retorted.

'She found me in Japan and took care of me for two days before she disappeared. You?'

'She reached out to my mind about a year ago, and said that if I ever needed her help I could contact her,' Tank said.

'How would you contact her?' Alex asked.

'No idea.'

'Great, still no closer. Guess we'll have to do it my way then. Tank, take care. I'm going to Japan.' Alex didn't wait for Tank to reply, but ran off to find Logan.

'Logan!' She nearly ran into Storm as she realised she was running too fast for average humans. 'Logan, we have to go to Japan today.'

'Wowowow, Lex, calm down. What's going on?'

'They're out there. They've surrounded the school. We need to go to Japan now to lure them away and to find Arania.'

'Surrounded, Japan, Arania? Alex, what are you saying?' Storm asked.

'Danny told me that the school has been surrounded. They're waiting for a time to strike so we have to leave soon. We will not be able to find Ma Gu easily, so we'll have to go to Japan to get Arania to help us.'

'Lex, calm down. We're not going anywhere right now,' Logan said.

'Fine, then I'll go without you,' Alex turned to walk away, but Logan grabbed her by her waist and lifted her off the ground. Storm snorted. She had nearly forgotten that Alex was still a rather short, underweight, thirteen year old girl.

'Put me down!' She wriggled in Logan's grip, but he didn't let go. 'I'm doing this with or without you.'

'You're not going anywhere without me, and right now I am not yet convinced. So you'd better tell me what your doing exactly, or it will take a really long time before your feet will touch the ground again.'

'Put me down!' And finally she figured out what she had done to break from Danny's grip and she slipped out of his grasp. Unfortunately, before she could start up her speed, Logan had caught her again and now pulled out his claws as he pinned her to the wall and held the tips of his claws to her shoulder, threatening to bolt her against the wall.

'Are you going to make me do this? Because I will.'

'No! Logan, please!'

'Then tell me. What is happening?' For the slightest of seconds Alex felt fear for her protector. The look in his eyes was so strict she got shivers down her spine and for a minute she had no words. It felt like the world stopped and her mind blanked. There was no imminent danger, but she felt the threat coming from Logan. He was serious. He had never been more serious with her. Fine, if it was like this she would tell him.

'I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me,' Alex muttered. 'Danny told me that there are people waiting for me and if they're patient they'll get me. I don't know who they are, but there's no doubt in my mind that they're here for me. No one can get hurt because of me, Logan. That's why I didn't want to come here, and that's why I want to leave straight away. If we leave now they'll follow us and we'll lure them away from the school. We can easily lose them in Portland Harbour and they'll never know where we went.'

'Then why do you want to go to Japan?' Logan demanded. His face was still showing no compassion and Alex didn't hesitate before answering.

'Because we can't find Ma Gu. Xi'an is a huge city filled with tourists. In Japan I know a woman called Arania who can find her. I have no other way to get in touch with her than to visit the house where she lived last year.' That was when Logan finally let her go and Alex dropped to her knees. 'I'm sorry, I shouldn't have tried to run off on my own.'

'You're damn right you shouldn't have. We'll go together. You get the car ready, we'll leave before nightfall.' Alex nodded and ran off to get their stuff ready.

'Logan, are you serious? You just said…'

'I know what I said okay. But the kid is right. Right now, we form a danger to the school. We'll go to get this girl straight away and by that time we'll contact you to share our plans.'

'How long will you be gone?'

'Long, very long. Alex is hell-bent on not taking a plane to Japan or China, so we'll have to travel by boat. Don't worry, you'll be fine in here,' he put a hand on Storm's shoulder and was about to walk down to the garage when Rogue hurried towards him.

'Are you leaving again?'

'Yes, but don't worry. I'll be back.'

'Will you be okay?' Rogue asked worried.

'Hey, I got a thirteen year old girl to protect me, what can go wrong?'

'I'm serious, Logan!'

'So am I. Don't worry about us. We heal. I'm counting on you and everyone here to protect the mansion. I'll see you when I get back, okay?' Rogue nodded and gave Logan a quick hug before the new journey began.

They left late in the afternoon and immediately knew that those who had been waiting outside the mansion were following them. On several occasions Alex spotted the military vans that couldn't have been from anyone else. So they tried to drive through the first night, but eventually decided to make camp in a forest just of the interstate. The vans had had trouble keeping up and they managed to shake them the next day without having to leave anything behind.

Their gear for this journey was a bit different because they would have to stay on a ship for 20 days. Their four days of car travel had been reduced to three because of Alex being able to drive with certain adaptions. But whenever there was a checkpoint they had to make the switch and put Logan behind the wheel. They stopped for the night and sometimes so they could switch who was driving, but that was it.

They went onto the interstate and following that straight down to the west before turning onto the 84 and finishing the last part to Portsland. From there they just had to find a ship heading for Japan. As it turned out, this was completely a task for Alex as long as it had to be done stealthily. Invisible she went through shady bar after shady bar and finally found the captain of a ship and managed to actually get the exact location and time of departure from him.

Now they just had to get on board the ship, which was not a problem according to Alex. The specific dock they needed to be at had one single entrance, as did most of the docks, for whoever wanted to get on the ship. They just had to persuade the captain to take them. And that was where Logan found the trouble. How the hell were they supposed to have a captain take them on their ship for free. He had however forgotten that Alex was an expert at awkward forms of travel.

'You're making this a bit more difficult than usually, but I'll get you in. Can I cut you?'

'What?'

'I need a credible story, in order to get that you need to be visibly injured and unconscious.' Logan groaned but complied and with her dagger she make several rather bad cuts so he had blood on his clothes before she told him to sit in the passenger seat of the car as they waited for the captain to show. She could recognise him from far away and gave Logan the signal to start pretend sleeping.

'Sumimasen! Sumimasen! Tasukete kudasasimasen ka!' She ran towards the approaching car and the captain pulled over and got out for the thirteen year old girl who was blabbering on in fluent Japanese about what had happened.

'Slow down, I don't understand a word you say. Do you speak English?'

'I'm sorry, sir, but, please, can you help me?' They were close enough to the pickup that Logan could hear every word. Alex sounded much younger than she really was right now. What was she thinking? What was she trying to do.

'What is it?'

'My dad. He was attacked.'

'Where is he?' the captain was now alarmed.

'He's in our car over there,' Alex pointed at the car and the captain rushed over. He saw Logan with his blood stained clothes and seemingly unconscious.

'Does he need to go to a hospital?'

'No, we've already been there. He's sleeping because of medicine against itami.'

'You mean he's on painkillers?'

'Hai! Yes! So he sleeps a lot, but we need to get back to Japan and I don't have any money. And my mother cannot get a visa to come and get us. Please, sir, can you help me find someone to take us to Japan?'

'I'm actually going to Sendeishiogama port in Japan, but I'm sorry, I am not allowed to take you. I can take you to the Japanese consulate and maybe they can work out something, but other than that…'

'I've already been to the consulate and they said they couldn't do anything for me. We'll be stuck here for weeks if I can't find someone to take me back. Onegai shimasu, please, can you take us with you? I'll do anything you ask, I'll pay as much as you want. Just, please, take us to Japan. Onegai, please,' and that was when she started crying. Logan, who had his eyes closed, couldn't see her face, but it sounded damn real. The only reasons she didn't have him fooled was because he had been with her when she cried, and she generally didn't, and because the story wasn't true. The captain was now faced with a weak, crying, thirteen year old Japanese girl with an unconscious father who needed nothing more than passage to Japan, which he could easily give her.

'Hey, hey, calm down. What's your name?'

'Keiko,' Alex lied through her teeth as she kept on sniffling. 'Daniels Keiko.'

'Okay, Keiko. I'll take you on board of my ship and I'll take you to Japan, free of charge, okay? It's all going to be alright.'

'Hontou? Really?'

'Yes, I can't really leave you here, can I. Now, do you think you can drive your car up a slope?' Alex shook her head for credibility and the captain nodded. 'Okay, then just wait inside the gates and I'll get one of my crew to get your car on board, okay?'

'Arigatou gozaimasu! Thank you so very much!' She bowed very deeply and the captain told her it was alright as he got back into his own car and had the gate opened so they both could drive onto the dock.

'I told you I'd get us in?' Alex whispered to Logan as she got back into the car.

'Impressive,' Logan whispered back. True to the captain's word, one of the crew members came to drive their car onto the car deck for crewmembers. The captain came to check on them and not long after they were departing. Logan finally was allowed to move again properly and they quickly checked to see if his wounds had healed properly, which they had. After that it was just sit back and relax. They were on their way to Japan, for free, and perfectly hidden.


	9. Through Time and Space

**Through Time and Space**

_With the Webmaster of the East and Jin Nae_

Despite the enclosed space of the ship and her having to pretend to be weak Alex was not bored on the ship at all. On the third day they had made Logan "wake up" and he could join her for short distances if he could sit down afterwards. The captain had taken a liking to Alex who was having the time of her life on the ship. She got to come onto the bridge and stand at the railing to smell the wind and watch the sea. There were no more cabins available, but Alex had immediately said that they would sleep in their car.

The captain was very taken with the girl and asked her to tell about herself. She told the captain about her imaginary mother in Japan, and her not really a father who came from the US. And the made up story of how they had met in Tokyo and had fallen in love before moving to Sendai and living together. Logan listened carefully as Alex told the stories of her perfect made up family.

Finally they arrived in Sendeishiogama port and Alex thanked the captain, in a confusing mixture of Japanese and English, a thousand times before they were finally off into Sendai where they immediately moved to the roads and started heading south.

Their journey was broken up by only one stay overnight a bit north of Kobe, but they reached Kagoshima before the night of the second day. Seeing as it was already very late Alex thought it to be a good idea to wait until the morning before going to Arania's house, so they parked the car near Shiroyama park and made ready to spent the night there.

Logan had just gone to get some food when a woman started approaching the car. It took a whole second before Alex knew anything was going on, but she saw it in time had it been an enemy. Fortunately, this was neither an enemy, nor a friend.

'Arania-san!'

'Not so loud, Are-chan, someone might hear you. What are you doing here?'

'We came to find you,' Alex straightened up to look Arania in the eye. 'We need your help to find someone.'

'We?'

'Kid, who's this?' Logan came back with forceful steps, having seen this woman approaching Alex.

'Logan, this is Arania. Ariania, this is Logan.'

'Wolverine, a pleasure to finally meet you. I've seen many a fleeting thought about you, but we've never really gotten acquainted. I'm Arania, also known as the webmaster of the east. Shall we go to my house to discuss the matters you came for?

Alex seemed to be perfectly at ease, which might be the reason why Logan felt completely the opposite. Last night they had gotten to Arania's house and had spent the night in her guest room. Arania was definitely a peculiar woman. She seemed to know too much, and her house… It was weird to say the least. It was completely deprived of all forms of technology and nearly all walls were filled with mirrors making him slightly dizzy. Arania came back in the room with breakfast and tea and they all sat around a low table before anyone opened their mouth.

'So, how have you been, Are-chan?' Arania asked.

'Does Arania-san still need telling or has Arania-san already read my mind?' Alex smiled.

'I would like to hear a recount of the events Are-chan would have chosen to share with.'

'I've been really good. It's been three months since I came across Logan and went to school. I've made friends, and I've gotten much more control over my powers, but unfortunately we do not have much time for talk like this.'

'I thought it would be a good idea to make small talk until your friend has gotten over his suspicion,' Arania turned her head to Logan.

'That's never going to happen, he doesn't like mind readers,' Alex answered.

'A shame, he has such a beautifully destroyed mind. But I understand you were looking for a specific person,' again Arania knew something they had not told her yet. Logan really didn't like mind readers.

'Yes, a girl living in Xi'an.'

'Do you have a name?'

'Not really, the sniffer who told us about her called her Ma Gu, but that's not her real name.'

'Age, personality, appearance, people she is close to, district?'

'No,' Alex shook her head. 'We have no idea who she is. Which is why we came to you.'

Arania sighed: 'I'm good, Are-chan, but I'm not a miracle worker. You have got to give me more than just that.'

'She's like me.'

'That narrows it down, but is no way to find her. They'll be trying very hard to hide her origin and maybe even pretend that she has no power at all.' Arania cleared away the cups before returning from the kitchen and stopping next to a drawer. She let her fingers run over a book laying on top of it, but she left it there and returned to her spot at the table.

'I thought you might be able to trace her through me. If I can sent you to the sniffer, you might be able to see inside him.'

'It is worth a try,' Arania said. 'May I enter your mind?' Alex nodded and for a moment nothing happened as Arania closed her eyes.

'Show me, Daniel,' Arania whispered. 'Show me.' Seconds later Arania opened her eyes again: 'It's not possible. His mind is too damaged and fragile.'

'So, you can't see where she is?' Logan asked.

'I cannot access his mind at all, so I have no idea where your girl would be.'

'There has to be another way,' Alex asked. 'You found Samuel. You found me!'

'That is something different entirely,' Arania said. 'You were causing a ruckus in this neighbourhood.'

'Then what about Samuel? Can't you access the net?'

'Is it truly that important, Are-chan?'

'Yes, Arania-san. We're trying to free all second generation mutants from being hunted, but in order to do that we need to find her first.'

Arania pondered over this for a second before getting up: 'Follow me.' She led them into a back room and removed a few floorboards revealing a secret tunnel into the ground. Alex and Logan closely followed her. Even when Arania closed the floorboards again it was incredibly bright down there. Every single millimetre of the underground room's walls was filled with mirrors. The ceiling, floor and walls. A single light bulb hung in the centre and Arania sat right under it.

'Wait, what are you going to do?'

'I'm a telepath, Logan,' Arania explained. 'Only of a different kind than what you're used to. I can see inside the minds of people I look directly in the eye, or who have their mind open to me. But once inside their minds I can follow all threads all around the world of people thinking about each other. If anyone at all, thinks of you, I can eventually find a line that will bring me to your mind wherever you are, no matter how hard you try to defend yourself against it. That is exactly what I'm going to try to do right now.'

Logan took a step back and stood next to Alex as Arania closed her eyes. For a moment nothing happened. Then suddenly all went pitch black and white lines of a spider web went to every mirror in the room. Ghostly images of people flashed by at high speed as Arania sat frozen. A few minutes went by before finally the image of an eight year old girl stopped in front of Arania.

"Hello, Jin," the voice of Arania echoed through the room without her lips moving.

"Who is this?"

"Before you travel back in time, I will warn you that I will find you, wherever you go. I mean no harm, simply to talk."

"Who are you?"

"I am Arania, the webmaster of the East. I'm here to help you. In a few days two friends of me will come to your house, Logan and Alex," in her mind she didn't have the accent that usually didn't allow her to pronounce Alex' name. The ghostly images of Logan and Alex appeared next to Arania and they could see Jin looking at them.

"What should I do?"

"Stay where you are and inform your parents that they will be visiting. Don't be afraid, they'll explain everything." Then the connection fell away. The ghosts disappeared and the light flashed on. Arania sighed and touched her head with her hand.

'I've found her,' she sighed.

Alex fell on her knees next to Arania: 'Thank you.' She and Logan helped Arania back to the living room and Alex made tea as Logan got Arania settled and closed off the secret underground room. After a cup of tea Arania seemed to come back to life again a bit.

'Are you feeling better?' Alex asked.

'Better, but not good enough. Maybe you could tell Logan about how you got to know me, since he's dying to know,' Arania smiled as she took a sip of her tea.

'It's not a very long story,' Alex said as she put her own cup down. 'I've told you how I left Australia and was so desperate after my father's death that I tried to find a new family? I arrived at Kagoshima port and I reached out to the mutant community here. A mutant orphan whose father had just died, but as soon as they found out what I really was I had to run. I was stupid enough to stay in this town and it didn't take long before Arania-san picked up on my trail and found me near Shiroyama park, where we were today.

'She told me she knew who I was and that I could stay with her for a few days, until I had cleared my head, but that I then really had to move quickly. She taught me Japanese, and how to come to terms with my fathers death. But because the mirrors in her house could only do so much I had to leave after that. I travelled through Japan for a while after that, but then moved back to the US.'

'I've been keeping tabs on you, making sure you were alright,' Arania said softly. 'It wasn't very difficult. There are so many people after you. I'm glad you're happy now.' Then she turned to Logan: 'You just be good to her. She deserves it.'

'Oh, I've heard the whole story, I know,' he ruffled Alex' hair, but she didn't protest.

'The girl you're looking for is called Jin. She and her parents are living in a flat in Xi'an. I will give you her address. Be sure not to spook her, because if cannot find her in one try, you'll have lost her.' Arania wrote down the address on a piece of paper. 'I'll get you on a boat to Shanghai. There are plenty of ships going there, you should arrive in the evening. After that it's just one very long drive to Xi'an.'

Storm was very skittish. It had been over three weeks since Logan had left and he still hadn't gotten in touch with her. As she had grown older over the past years, she had also started worrying more and more about everyone. Now at the respectable age of 64 she was constantly worried about everyone. She had seen so many people die around her, and she had thought that Logan would be the one to stay. After all, he seemed to be completely immortal. Nevertheless she couldn't help but worry every time he went out.

And that was only the beginning of her worries. He was taking care of an unstable 13 year old girl who had not only exploded and ripped off her own skin, but Alex had deep emotional trauma and parties of both human and mutants hunting her. She was unpredictable, impulsive and unfortunately didn't back down. She had no other protection than a man with memory loss and nightmares that caused him to sometimes sent a set of claws through whoever was near him.

Thirdly, with Logan gone the mansion was about 50 percent less protected. Logan was a killing machine. He could nearly defend the mansion on his own. A few days ago Nightwalker had said that there were people stationed around the mansion. They weren't planning on doing anything yet according to the information she gathered in the next days, but they were trying to figure out what exactly was going on.

This morning Bobby and Maze had captured a scout. Storm and Tatiana had spent over three hours with the scout and Petra, a very talented Russian telepath, to figure out what he was after and to sent him back with some minor information.

They were still after Alex and they knew she would be coming back here. The scout would report that Alex had gone back to South Africa to hide with family. She had taken her car and would depart from Boston to Capetown. She hoped that would keep them occupied for a little longer. At least until Logan and Alex were back with what Alex had called their army.

Tank had definitely shown talent. With the pursuers watching they had let him train in the underground bunker. Every bit of old metal had been put to use. Maxwell, a genius level 1 technopath, and Steven, a highly intelligent boy with thoughts that ran up to ten times as fast as those of normal humans, had had a great time designing models for Tank and he had made them with ease. Maxwell had only needed to make a few minor adjustments and after that they had shook the bunker with Tank's projectiles, missiles, bullets and god know what more the boys had designed.

Their greatest pride was the last design which was by far the most effective. They had made a sort of tank which had a machinegun instead of whatever was there usually. It exhausted the nine year old Tank, but even she had to admit that it was pretty awesome and most efficient. She just hoped he wouldn't have to use it.

Storm was afraid for the consequences, but there was nothing she could do. She just hoped that Logan would soon contact her by the secure phone in the next few days. She hoped they were alright. She hoped that she could just stop worrying some day.

Meanwhile Logan just turned off the G3001, which was the only thing they had known about the road they had been on. According to Alex it was supposed to be a ring way around the city of Xi'an, but she only knew so on the map.

'So, what road are we on now?' Logan asked as he continued down the road that had taken them into the city.

'I'm not sure,' Alex checked outside again.

'What do you mean you don't know. You can read those characters, right?'

'I know Japanese, that doesn't mean I know Chinese. They're completely different. We need to take the next turn right I think.'

'You think?' At that moment Logan had to hit the breaks because there was a traffic jam ahead of them. 'You'd better be sure if we're going to find this girl.'

'I think I'll recognise the characters on the sign. I've remembered it so we should be able to find it.'

'We shoul-,' but before Logan could finish his sentence Alex pointed out that the cars had started moving. True to her word she recognised the sign and they had indeed taken the right turn. It took quite a long time before they actually found the right apartment complex, but once they did they were not disappointed. They ended up in front of the door and Alex felt nervous. It was strange that she hadn't been this nervous when they had found Tank. Maybe it had something to do with her not being so angry anymore.

Before they could even try to announce their presence the door was already opened by an 8 year old girl: 'Don't worry, I won't try to run again. I trust Arania and therefore I trust you. Come in.' Alex and Logan shared a look, but went inside. The apartment was cramped and Logan felt just as if he was back in his motor home.

'We had to imitate American style enough to not stand out in this building. After all, North Koreans are a rarity, and plenty of American's have an Asian background, right mom?' She turned to the woman who was sitting on the couch next to the man. They got up and shook hands with Logan. Alex refused to give her hand, but told them it was due to her powers acting up. This was true, but she wasn't going to tell them that she was uneasy about this and that therefore plasma sparks were jumping between her fingers.

'It's kind of messy, but it is home.'

'It reminds me a bit of-,' Logan was cut off.

'Your motor home, right?' the girl sat between her parents.

'Yes, how-.'

'How do I know? You've told me before. I thought that Arania had told you I was a time traveller?'

'No, she just said you were very good at running away,' Alex said. 'Your power sounds pretty awesome.'

'It is most useful,' the woman said. 'It is the only reason we actually managed to leave North Korea.'

'I've met you six times before,' the girl said. 'But I'm still not sure about what you want because I got scared every time.'

'We don't want to hurt you at all,' Alex said. 'I'm Alex and this is Logan. I'm a second generation too. The only difference is that I've lost both of my parents due to that. I'm the first second generation and they've been after me for over eight years. I now want it all to end for all of us. There are six others like us in the world and I plan on finding all of them and putting an end to the hunt.'

'How did you want to do this?' the man asked.

'In America there is a school for mutants where I'm a teacher. We're trying to gather everyone there and put an end to this fight,' Logan explained.

'Is that safe?' the woman asked.

'No, it's not, but living isn't safe,' Logan said. 'I can vouch for that.'

'But the Mutant Liberation Order hasn't found us here for 2 years,' the man said. 'Going to a school for mutants.'

'Mutant Liberation Order?' Alex suddenly cut in.

'Yes, they sent out small pack of mutants, usually led by a sniffer, trying to capture me and use me for their purposes,' Jin said.

'I think they followed me to the school too, but we managed to bring them down,' Alex explained.

'There are a lot of mutants at this school and all of them will be willing to help when it comes down to a confrontation between us and whoever is out for your powers. The school is a safe place for mutants,' Logan said.


	10. Beyond Eyesight

**Beyond Eyesight**

_Somewhere between Xi'an and Amsterdam_

'What did you say your name was again?' the man suddenly asked.

'Logan,' Logan crooked an eyebrow at this peculiar question.

'Yes, dad, he is the Wolverine. What did you see?'

'Something that would make the Wolverine pull out his claws.'

'You just saw the future,' Alex leant forward in excitement.

'So rude, we completely forgot to introduce ourselves,' the woman spoke. 'My name is Nae Jun, this is my husband Nae Seok and our daughter Jin. I'm a teleporter, Seok has the ability to see into the future and Jin can travel through time.'

'That is so cool,' Alex was nearly bouncing on her chair. 'And I thought that my abilities were good. This is so awesome!' Logan gave her a look. 'Right, not the time and place to fawn over powers. If something is going to happen that would make have to fight that means we'll be under attack pretty soon. We'd better get moving as fast as possible.'

'Where are we going?' Jin asked.

'If they're after us then we'd best get to Amsterdam straight away.'

'All the way to Amsterdam?' Jun exclaimed.

'Yes, there are more of us in Europe,' Alex said.

'I don't think I would make it that far,' Jun explained. 'I may be able to teleport beyond my sight, but all the way to Amsterdam?'

'It's alright. We've got a car journey planned. But if they're here you might want to pack the things you need because you probably can't come back,' Logan got up. Alex followed and the Nae family went off to pack their things. They had been in China for two years and it had been one year since they had begun living in this apartment. It was another family who had found a place to live permanently. Why did they stop trying to find them when Alex had been hunted all over the world?

She had been found in the big cities of Europe, she had been found in Russia. Why had they given up on Tank and Jin? Would they have given up on the others too? Why had they not given up on Alex. She had done so much to lose them. She had stayed ahead of them nearly the full eight years. Why had they not given up back in Russia, or in the Sahara dessert? Why had they kept on coming after her. Why had they come in such huge amounts that she had hardly gotten sleep?

Seok suddenly appeared with a halfway open backpack: 'Fifteen minutes, they're fifteen minutes away. Four of them. A sniffer and three others.'

Jin stumbled in after him, supported by her mother: 'We need to leave now, it's not fifteen minutes.'

'Lex, stay here and help them pack the crucial stuff. I'll get the car started. We'll have to do with just ours.'

'No, I'll come down with you and get our car,' Seok handed his backpack to Jun and the two man ran down out of the apartment. Alex took over from Jun, so she could finish packing. Jin was catching her breath and was visibly recovering from whatever had happened.

'You should not have come,' Jin said. 'This is the fifth time. You died three times.'

'It's worth the risk,' Alex said. 'If it means that this will be ended.' Jun appeared with a couple of packed bags and they hurried down the stairs. Alex took Jin on her back and raced down while Jun teleported herself to the curb. But as Alex exited the building she stumbled to a halt and had Jin come off her back. They had been there already.

'You see that Eye, they're running,' a woman said.

A man who had his eyes closed turned his face upward: 'Let me take a look.'

'Down!' Jin yelled. Alex and Logan may have ignored the warning, but the Nae family all threw themselves on the ground. A laser came from the eyes of the man. Logan was nearly cut in half, only held together by his adamantium spine. Alex pulled up her diamond skin and charged forward at lightning speed.

'Fury!' A short man yelled and the woman immediately appeared in front of Alex delivering a rather painful blow.

'Get to your car!' Logan yelled as he pulled out his claws, while his waist sewed itself together, and charged towards the group to take down the man with laser eyes. Alex ran for her life, but the other woman was much faster and much more adapt at the high speeds they were going at. It took her every bit of concentration to hold her own against this woman. She slid under a kick the woman tried to deliver, but was too late in forming her plasma grenade and the woman's elbow hit her in her stomach, sending Alex flying back to the flat.

The Nae family ran for their car, but just as Jun reached for the car door Seok screamed: 'Get away from the car!' As if on a cue the third man of the group roared and started growing to immense proportions. With one step he crushed the car and Jin, Jun and Seok ran for their lives as they tried to get away from this giant.

Logan slashed his claws through the air, but couldn't seem to properly hit his target as the man with lasers from his eyes kept trying to cut him in half and succeeding for large parts. It hurt badly. Really badly and Logan roared as his arm was nearly severed. Again it was just adamantium keeping him together.

'Had enough yet?!' his opponent sneered. Logan didn't reply, but launched himself off the ground, claws forward. The laser eyes turned to his forehead and burned in his skull. Logan roared in pain and fury, but his claws settled themselves deep inside the man's chest. The laser flickered before he fell lifelessly to the ground.

'NO!' The short man screamed. 'I will make you pay for murdering my brother!' He pulled his sword and charged at Logan.

Alex crawled up and immediately the fast woman stood in front of her again and kicked her through the glass door of the apartment block. Alex struggled to get up and groaned in pain, but the woman was in front of her again.

'You're weak little girl, you're just weak,' she withdrew to hit Alex again, but the girl used the small window of opportunity to sprint up two flights of stairs. Alex managed to turn herself invisible, but now she was in so much pain she couldn't keep it up. Her diamond skin wasn't working as well and tears were running down her cheeks fast. She stumbled over a step and rolled over the ground until she came to a halt against the wall. Immediately the woman stood in front of her, ready to hit her.

The giant swung at the family and Jun was just in time to teleport them to the side, but the arm of the huge monster hit the apartment block and the ground shook as the building's structure was about to give in.

'We cannot win this fight!' Jin screamed. 'We have to get out of here!'

'Get to the car!' Logan screamed. The short man was an excellent swordsman and he managed to avoid Logan's claws by hitting them from the side. Logan was getting frustrated as he both tried to avoid blows as well as deliver them. It was pretty damn annoying how good this guy was.

The building shook as the giant's arm hit it. People were running down screaming. Alex' pursuer was disorientated and it gave Alex exactly the window of opportunity she needed to charge her plasma grenade. The woman was blown back full force against a support column. Another grenade after it and another before the column truly exploded. The mystery woman fell down two stairs and laid limp on the ground. People ran past her body, but the stairs were crumbling down. The building was about to collapse. The concrete before her feet was caving and Alex had to climb even higher. She may be healing, but she was in much pain.

Jin was shoved into the car as her parents stood outside. Jun kept teleporting around the giant to keep him distracted, but the giant had no eye for her. He was looking at the little creature inside that was climbing the stairs. His hand went straight through the wall as he tried to grab her but she was too fast. She burst into the apartment of the Naes'. She was trapped. The giant withdrew and his arm went for the building again. She could see it coming, there was no other choice. 

Alex ran for the window and jumped right through it. Screaming she turned her skin to diamond, and forced her telekinetic power to make her float, but she wasn't strong enough and the ground started nearing. Seok jumped behind the wheel, Jun teleported Logan to the back of the car as Seok drove it right under where Alex would land. Alex screamed, the Giant tried to grab her as she fell through the air, the swordsman ran after Logan.

The car came to a sudden stop and Logan held out his arms to catch the girl. With a thud Alex fell in his arms and Jun grabbed the car with both hands, her face scrounged in concentration. A light plop and they were gone.

'Lex? Lex, can you hear me? Are you alright?' Logan fell to his knees so Alex could rest on his lap, but she didn't respond. 'Lex?!' Seok and Jin jumped out of the car and ran over to the trunk in which Jun and Logan sat.

'Lex!'

'She's still alive,' Seok said. Jin released a sigh of relief as she moved closer to her mother.

'Then why is she not waking up?!' Logan growled at Seok.

'Let me take a look at her.'

'No, you stay away from her!' Logan tried to shield her with his own body.

'Logan, I'm a doctor. Now let me take a look at her.' Logan moved away a bit, but didn't really let her go. Seok touched a few of Alex's bruises and even in her unconscious state Alex whimpered. Through her skin, a few of the metal triangles stuck. There was glass on several places in her skin. With careful hands Seok removed the glass and they could immediately see her skin slowly healing. Bruises were getting smaller and her broken bones seemed to return to normal bit by bit. They sat very quietly as Alex' body very slowly was restoring itself. On Seok's last check she seemed to be perfectly fine again. Still she was not awake.

'Why is she not waking up?' Logan bit at Seok.

'I don't know. I think she must have used a lot of her powers and that she is just exhausted. I can promise you that she is fine otherwise.' Logan grumbled, but let Alex lie in the trunk of the car. He put a sleeping bag under her head, and the second sleeping bag over her so she would be comfortable and warm. Then he looked around. They were in an abandoned parking lot under a streetlight. It was very dark and quiet outside.

'Where are we?' he asked.

'This is Amsterdam,' Jun said a bit wearily. I actually managed to teleport us all here. This is where the bus stopped the one time I went into Amsterdam.'

'And why is it so dark. It was around noon in shi-something.'

'Time difference,' Seok explained. 'This is a different time zone. The difference between there and here is seven hours. Which makes it around five in the morning here.'

'Thank you for that information, professor,' Logan said sarcastically as he turned back to Alex, who was sleeping with a pained look on her face.

'What do we do now?' Jin asked.

'We'll contact Storm,' Logan said. 'She'll have a plan.'

'Who's Storm?'

'A friend,' Logan said as he got the secure phone from the cabin of the car. He climbed on the back of the truck and sat next to Alex before he dialled the number. It rang for a really long time before a sleepy voice on the other side of the line picked up.

'Logan, is that you?'

'Hey, Storm. Listen-.'

'Logan, it's the middle of the night, can't this wait until morning?'

'No, it can't. I'm in Amsterdam with the Chinese family, Alex is unconscious and we need to find those two kids in Amsterdam fast before we get another pack of mutants sent after us.'

'What?' Storm sat up as she now truly started to wake up. 'You're in Amsterdam? How did you get there? And why is Alex unconscious?'

'Teleporter. We ran into some trouble in China and Alex got hurt, she's fine now, but still unconscious. Anyway we were teleported out. It's a really long story and we don't have time for that now. I need to know where to go.'

'Right, okay, ehm,' Storm rubbed the sleep from her eyes and sat up. 'Do you have any idea where you are now?'

'No,' Logan replied.

'Well, get to Sarphati Park. It's close to the Amsteldijk. From somewhere there you should be able to find it. Every morning at six there is a meeting of the Amsterdam mutant society. They're quite liberal and open so they might know something.'

'Okay, and then?'

'I don't know, Logan. You'll have to figure that out. Now can I go back to sleep?'

'Oh, yeah, sure. Night.'

'Night, Logan.' Logan hung up the phone and turned to the other's.

'We have to get to some place called the Amsteldijk to get to the Sarphati Park. There we'll meet at six in the morning with the other mutants.'

'Then we'd best get moving,' Jun suggested.

'No, Alex is in no condition to travel,' Seok said.

'I agree, but we can't stay here either,' Logan said. Carefully he brushed some hair off Alex' forehead and she lightly stirred in her sleep.

'Amsterdam? Why Amsterdam?' she mumbled.

'I think she's dreaming.'

'That's not good,' Logan said, remembering the previous times she had dreamt. His first encounter with her dreams had left them with a room completely destroyed. His second encounter had kept on waking him in the middle of the night as she screamed for help, but at least then he had been on time before she had blown up the room. His third encounter she had been somewhere between awake and asleep in her fever induced nightmares and she had blown herself up like a nuclear bomb. His fourth encounter she had been stuck in a nightmare and had not woken up before she had reached the end of her own story. He had to wake her up.

'Lex, wake up, Lex,' he gently shook her, but she wasn't waking up. 'Lex, this is no time to sleep, we need to get moving.' She scrounged her eyebrows at that comment, but didn't wake up. Logan didn't notice Jin searching the cabin as he kept on trying to wake her. It wasn't until Jin emptied a bottle of water on Alex' face. Alex jolted awake and hit Logan quite forcefully in the process.

'What was that?'

'You were unconscious, Jin woke you up,' Seok explained. Alex took a moment to remember who exactly she was facing before she took a look around.

'Where are we? And how did we get out of that fight?' At that moment she felt her headache.

'We're somewhere in Amsterdam, Jun teleported us here. Are you okay?'

'Don't ever try to fly,' Alex mumbled in reply. 'It hurts. I'll never try and use my telekinesis like that again.' Logan snorted. 'You said we were in Amsterdam?'

'Yeah, why? Do you know it?'

'I stayed here for a while,' Alex leant against Logan again and she seemed about ready to pass out from exhaustion.

'Could you point us to the Sarphati park?'

'Where is that?'

'Near the Amsteldijk,' Logan rocked her a bit so she wouldn't doze off to sleep straight away.

'Can you get onto the A4 or A 1-0?' Alex yawned. 'From there I should be able to point you. I lived there…'

'Hey, hey, stay awake,' Logan tried. Alex blinked, but she was definitely exhausted.

'I can get us to the A10, I don't see any further than that,' Seok said.

'Then we're going. Jun, Jin. Could you sit on the back, maybe?' the two women immediately said that that would be no problem. Alex was put between the two men as Logan drove. It turned out they were actually rather close to the so called A10, which was some form of a highway… There was still rather few traffic, but Logan could see that would start up soon and then it would look like the streets of New York. After maybe a minute Alex told them to take the exit already. A right turn straight after and they passed under the same road they had been on before. They turned into a street named after an American president and suddenly they were on the Amsteldijk, as the signs said.

Luckily someone was walking their dog on this road and Logan pulled over to ask for directions. Turned out they were really very close. Sixth road on the right and they would pass the park. Light was starting to appear at the horizon and Logan suspected they were very late for the daily meeting. True to his suspicions, when they arrived at the park it was completely abandoned. Alex had fallen asleep and Logan decided that it had been enough for today.

They found a hostel across the street and luckily the owners were already up and they spoke English. They looked a bit curiously at Logan, who carried Alex in his arms, and their Korean companions who carried the luggage, but they didn't complain and said they had rooms. A problem however appeared when Logan had only American dollars. Alex was however woken up by the commotion Logan was causing and told him there was about 500 Euros in her backpack. At some later point she told him that she had asked Storm for this, having predicted that something like this might happen. She had a similar value in Chinese Yuan and Swiss Francs. Finally they went up to the rooms and Logan tucked Alex in before they all sat in the other room to overcome everything that had happened.

They had definitely had fought enough for today. Seok tended to a few scratches that Jun and Jin had gotten, but it was nothing serious fortunately. Logan was still uneasy with Alex' condition and he could hardly sit down.

'Logan, she'll be fine,' Seok turned to him after he had finished with the medical supplies.

'Yeah, I know. It's good you're a doctor, though.'

'I'm a doctor in chemical physics. I omitted some information to have you calm down back then. I can see in the future, remember. I knew she would heal, but I removed some glass so it would be easier for her.

'You lied to me?'

'It was to protect you,' Seok defended. 'You would have never let me help her if you had known I was not a doctor in the sense you thought.'

'But she will be fine.'

'If she wont be in this future,' Jin said. 'I'll travel back in time and we'll take her to a hospital. Mutant or not, they will treat her.'

'But that is not going to be necessary,' Jun said. 'Calm down, and we'll unwind. It's been very stressful today.' Logan finally settled in a chair and listened to the conversation the Korean family was having. In the back of his mind he was still thinking of Alex, but constantly worrying wouldn't do anyone good. So with his ears pointed, he tried to let it go a bit and hopefully she would wake up very soon.

To keep him occupied the Nae family told Logan about their journey to stay hidden. Jin had been five when first signs of power started showing, but it wasn't very obvious, so they were still somewhat safe. Of course it didn't stay like that for long and they got the government and small packs of mutants after them. They were part of the Mutant Liberation Order, told Jun. However, they weren't exactly trying to liberate the family and so they had to flee their hometown of Taedong after selling all of their possessions and travel by foot to the city of Nampho. Jin's power proved very useful in getting them past every bit of security, as were the powers of her parents. But Jin's power in fact just gave them a second chance every time.

In Nampho they hid on a ship that took them to China where they exchanged all their savings for cash Yuan before buying a car and heading inland. They travelled through the big cites and soon ended up in Xi'an, the first place they didn't stand out at all. They bought the apartment and assumed the identity of an American family returning to their roots. They spoke English and had Jin learn it too as they gradually also learned Chinese. Whenever someone came for them they saw it coming, or they could try again once it had gone wrong. Their powers seemed to be perfect.

The story was a good distraction for Logan, but around nine Logan heard noises coming from the other room. He didn't hesitate one second, but ran over to the room to find Alex trashing in her bed. She was having another nightmare.

'Lex, wake up. You're having another nightmare.' She awoke with a start and heavily panting recognised Logan.

'Logan,' she immediately curled up against him as she started crying. 'Make it stop, please, make it stop. I don't want to do this anymore.'

'It's okay, it's okay. You're awake now. You're safe.'

'I'm so tired,' she said. 'Of everything.' Logan felt her forehead, she was feverish again.

'It will get better, I promise. Sleep, Lex. You'll get better.' But instead of lying back she got up. The room spun around her, but she persisted and got to her feet, despite Logan trying to push her back. She ducked under his arm and nearly fell as she got back up again. A few steps brought her to the bathroom and she tumbled inside. On hands and knees she crawled to the toilet bowl and threw up. She seemed so small and fragile. In the fight she had fought and held her own like an adult, but now she was showing how young she still really was. In fact she seemed even younger. Logan remembered that the first time he had met her he had thought she would be about fifteen or sixteen years old.

Later she had proven to be not only very mature for her age, but also rather small, ignorant and downright contradictory in everything she did. She had been able to drive a car, but she was scared by a television turning on. She liked being clean, but had kept on wearing her old and dirty clothes because they still smelled like her dad. She could take care of herself, and clearly did so, but came to him for help all the time. He had to admit that it was part of her charm. Some teenage behaviour that was typical for thirteen year olds according to the others at the mansion.

Right now, Alex had no space of mind to think about anything but what was going on at the moment. She felt terrible again. She was exhausted, her mind was still full with images from her dreams in which she had been tortured again, her stomach was upset and she felt the life slowly draining from her every time she threw up. Her only comfort at the moment was Logan who held back her hair as she struggled to stay conscious.

'There's blood,' Logan suddenly noticed as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. And true to his word there was indeed some blood on her hands. Logan handed her a towel and she cleaned herself up.

'Are you getting a new power again?' he asked. Slowly she shook her head and immediately the room started spinning again. Her throwing up blood would explain why she felt so much weaker now.

'I'm so tired,' she breathed and then had to turn back to the toilet bowl. She was exhausted. She needed to sleep. Her head was swimming and her vision blurry.

Logan could only just catch her before she fell unconsciously to the cold hard floor. He was not going to let her stay here alone anymore. He picked her up of the floor and carried her to the other room. Jun looked worriedly at Alex' sleeping form, but she didn't say anything and Logan appreciated that. He put Alex in bed and sat down with the others again.

'We need to get her to Tatiana soon,' Logan said. 'She just threw up blood and she's got a fever.'

'Let's just hope it will go down before morning,' Seok said.

'I think it will be a good idea if you three go downstairs for breakfast,' Jun said. 'We're all hungry and it might be a good distraction. I'll take care of Alex.'

'That sounds like a good idea,' Seok said. 'We'll take something back up for you and Alex.' And with that it was decided. Logan saw no point in protesting, knowing he'd be met with criticism. Alex would be in good hands with Jun, and if something was wrong she could get him in a heartbeat. Breakfast was a very goo idea for Logan was starving. It had been hours since he'd last eaten, and with the travelling and stress and the time difference, it had only increased.

It turned out to also be a great distraction. They returned with an assortment of things for Alex and Jun. Alex was still asleep, but Jun greatly appreciated the meal. They were trying to keep themselves occupied. Fortunately around one Alex woke up again and she seemed to have recovered a bit. She was still feverish and tired, but she didn't want to sleep again. Jin had gone exploring and had returned with a few books, of which Alex requested to read one.

As it turned out Alex could read, but extremely slowly. She had never been taught to read properly. Only her father had ever taught her anything about that. Writing had already posed a large problem at the school, but the reading was only now really showing. Usually when any of the teachers had asked her to read anything by herself she had read it completely isolated from everyone and they now knew why. Alex read with the speed and skills of someone who was just starting to read. She could read road signs, and maps, but books were a bit too difficult for her.

With her finger under the word she was reading she had to pronounce every word she was reading before she could make out the sentence. This of course got Jun and Seok wondering if Alex had never been taught how to read, leading to an explanation from Logan and eventually the decision that someone should start teaching Alex. Alex was about to fall asleep though and so they all decided to catch some sleep now. Their sense of time was messed up anyway and there was no need to adapt.

Logan took Alex to the other room and soon all were asleep. Alex was too exhausted to even dream, so it was a quiet and good sleep before they went to the park across the street at half past five. All were well rested and fed, except for Alex who had thrown up again, right after dinner. Her vision was cloudy and she was wobbly on her feet and very vulnerable in her current state, but they also couldn't leave her behind in the hostel.


	11. In Amsterdam

**In Amsterdam**

_And Geneva as well_

True to Storm's words more people started coming just before six. And at six the park held around thirty people. Most of them were in their thirties, but there were a few teenagers and some older ones. There were some mutant with obvious mutations, some showing them off, but more who just seemed completely ordinary.

A man of around forty stepped on a statue, so he was just a bit above everyone and started talking I a language none of them understood: 'Dank jullie allen dat jullie gekomen zijn. Sinds gisteren zijn er meer agenten in de stad. We weten nog niet waarom ze hier zijn, maar ze doen duidelijk onderzoek naar mutanten. Er is geen reden om jullie zorgen te maken. We starten meteen een onderzoek naar waarom ze hier zijn. Tot dat adviseer ik iedereen om zich gedeisd te houden en gewoon door te gaan met de orde van de dag.'

'Now for those who do not speak Dutch,' he continued and although he had quite a clear accent, he seemed very capable at English. There were visibly quite a few among the crowd who did not speak Dutch. Then why had they come to the Netherlands. Well, at least he repeated what he had said in English.

'As of yesterday there has been an increase in the amount of agents in the city. We do not know why they are here, but they are looking into mutant activity. Now, this is no need to be worried. We will immediately start an investigation into their presence. Until then I advise you all to lay low and just go about your daily business.'

'They followed us,' Alex said. 'We need to warn them.' She freed her hand from Jin's and stepped forward.

'Excuse me!'

'No, Lex, we can't just barge in,' Logan grasped her.

'They need to know,' but she was too weak to even come close to escaping from him. Unfortunately for Logan they had caused enough ruckus for all heads to have turned in their direction.

'Wie zijn jullie?' the leader came over to them.

'What?' Logan asked confused by whatever the leader had just said.

'I asked who you are,' he repeated. 'You're clearly not from here. Who are you?'

'Simon,' Alex said. 'It's me.'

'Alex? Little Alex? What the hell are you doing here? Did you lead those agents here?'

'I think I have.'

'Get the hell out of here! You're putting all of us in danger!' Simon exclaimed.

'No, we can't,' Alex swayed on her feet and Logan had to catch her.

'Listen,' he spoke threateningly. 'We wouldn't have come here if it hadn't been necessary. I would much rather have her back in America, but that's not an option. We need to find two young mutants.'

'Are they the ones being hunted?' Simon asked.

'Possibly.'

'Then there's not here. All mutants in this community are friendly and we're trying to stay within the law. The Netherlands are rather liberal and open to fugitives, but suspicions are rising every day and if we get a bad name now, we might actually be forced to leave the country. So get out of here now. This meeting is over. Iedereen naar huis!' Immediately everyone disappeared in different directions, leaving Logan, Alex, Jin, Jun and Seok standing alone.

'What now?' Jun asked.

'I don't know,' Logan said.

'Psst,' a voice suddenly came from behind them. 'Hierzo.' They turned around, but saw nothing.

'Who's there?' Logan asked. Suddenly right in front of them a woman materialised.

'I'm Sara van Bergh, I believe I know who you're looking for. Are you Alex?' she asked the still feverish girl by Logan's side.

'Yes, I am,' Alex said in a soft voice.

'Are you a second?' the woman asked for conformation.

'Second generation, and not so well at the moment,' Alex said.

'Then follow me.' Alex had to be put on Logan's back because they'd move far too slow with her walking. It wasn't far away. As soon as they had left the park they had to turn two corners and then stopped in front of a perfectly normal suburban house. Alex probably would have had another anger fit upon seeing their state of living, but she was too weak to notice. She was too tired and too ill. Sara opened the door and the group of five went inside. In the living room they found a man with a newspaper sitting on the couch. He looked up as he heard them come in.

'Sara, wie zijn dit?'

'It's okay, Mike. They're good folk. Could you wake up Chloe and Jason? These people need to see them,' Sara continued in English making clear that she trusted her guests.

'Are you sure?' Mike asked. 'I mean…'

'I think we're not alone in this,' Sara said and Mike understood. He went upstairs.

'We have to be very careful,' Sara explained. 'These days there are many people who don't appreciate people like us. Is it true that all of you are mutants?' She stressed the word all.

'That's true,' Jun said.

'Good,' Sara spoke. 'Then, do you want a cup of tea, or coffee?'

'Coffee would be great,' Logan said after the Koreans had asked for a cup of tea.

As Sara bustled about I the kitchen the five mutants took a seat on the two couches. Alex condition was getting worse and Logan feared she might have to throw up again soon. At least she was awake, but she was burning up.

'Alex is like a living legend around here,' Sara said as she came in with the drinks. 'Never has there been a manhunt that large in Amsterdam as when you were here. It was a warning to us to never let our identity be clear to anyone. Not even the mutant community knows what we are. We still thank you for it today.'

'What did you do?' Logan asked Alex, but she was unable to produce an answer. Her hand on her stomach she got off the couch, but as soon as she stood she fell again. Logan immediately realised what was going on.

'Where is your bathroom?' he asked as he helped Alex up.

'In the corridor, first door on the right,' Sara said. 'Is she alright?' Logan didn't reply but helped Alex away quickly.

'She's very ill,' Jun explained. 'It started as soon as we got here. She might have used her powers too much, or because she fell down three stories, or because she has been beaten quite badly in that fight.'

'Excuse me?' Sara exclaimed. 'What happened?'

'Logan and Alex came to pick us up in China, but unfortunately we were trapped by mutants before we knew it. It was a very tough fight and we only barely managed to get away,' Jun told Sara.

'That's terrible. Thank god we've never had to do anything like that. Although Chloe would have liked to test her powers.' At that moment a scream came from the corridor. It was Alex. All rushed over to her to find her kneeled on the floor with her hands against her ears.

'Get it out, get them out!' stumbling on the stairs and Mike joined them again, this time accompanied by a boy and a girl, who could only be assumed to be Chloe and Jason.

'We can't, Lex, there stuck into your bones. We need to get Tatiana to do that,' Logan said, but he couldn't grab her hand that was scratching at her left temple.

'Get them out!' And then a piece of metal broke through her skin. Logan finally managed to grab her hand as she started crying.

'Oh god, what is that?' Sara exclaimed.

'Make it stop. Please, make it stop. Dad,'

'I can't,' he pulled Alex close to him and stroked her hair. Blood trickled slowly down from her temple, but she seemed to have calmed down a bit. They managed to persuade Alex to come into the living room where she was put on the couch.

'May I ask what happened to put her in this state?' Mike asked.

'Basically her life,' Logan said. 'Listen, I don't have time for chitchat. We need to find two second generation mutants here in Amsterdam. After that we need to get to Geneva before we can finally get back to America, and we need to hurry up.'

'Why are you looking for us?' the girl asked.

'Because of Alex. She's been hunted all over the world for… Long. She's lost her father and has been tortured. She's now again being threatened to be found again and we finally figured out a way to stop it. By bringing together all second generation mutants we can fight the pursuers and put an end to this. No one will have to hide anymore.'

'So that means we would get the chance to use our powers?' the boy asked.

'So you two are… Ehm. Nemesis and Loki?' Logan looked up. This time he got confused looks from everyone. 'That's what our source told us.'

'Why two gods? I'm Chloe, but I suppose I would be Nemesis, since that's the woman. My brother, Jason would be Loki. Oh, wait, I get it. Nemesis would be for my strength and Loki for the trickster god. Sheesh, your source is good!'

'Yeah, okay. Lex, you heard that. We need to get a move again.'

'Hold on, she is in no condition to travel anywhere,' Sara said.

'How would you know? Alex is tough, she-.'

'Has a fever that is causing her to lose her mind, she can't even walk straight and she had visibly lost blood. Now are you telling me you would let your daughter travel in a condition that could kill her on itself?' Sara lectured.

'She's not my daughter, which is why I can think rationally enough to realise that I have to get her moving as fast as possible if I want to get her to the one person who can make her better.'

'I can't let you do this. If you need to get to Geneva, then fine, go, but Alex will stay here in the meantime.'

'Who says you can take care of her?' Logan snapped.

'I'm a nurse for my profession.'

'Mom, I can understand he doesn't want her to stay here. Maybe I went with him,' Jason suggested, but he was interrupted by his father.

'No way, Jason. You're not going anywhere with that man. Even if you can manipulate him any way you want I will not allow it.'

'Also, your powers are suspicious Jason. Mine would be much more suitable,' Chloe said.

'What are your powers?' Jun asked.

'I'm completely indestructible and untouchable,' Chloe said.

'I will not have it Chloe,' Mike said loudly.

'If I may,' Jun came in between before it would escalate. 'I propose a compromise. In my opinion it would be very hard to persuade another second generation mutant to come with us without one of the second generations being present themselves. Which is why I think Chloe should indeed join Logan in going to Geneva, since Alex is truly in no condition to travel. Wait,' she stopped everyone before they complained. 'The choice would be Chloe because of her indestructibility, she would be able to hold her own next to Logan, while not posing a threat to the new mutant. Also it would leave Jason here to keep the location concealed. Sara and Mike, you would be able to defend if necessary. Also Seok and Jin will stay here, they can see anything coming and if it goes wrong, Jin can try again. Meanwhile I will join Logan and Chloe so if something goes wrong, I can take us straight back here.'

'That sounds like a fair solution,' Seok concluded.

'Are you sure?' Sara asked.

'Positive. This will be the best solution.'

'I see nothing bad in the near future, except for Alex condition getting worse,' Seok said.

'What?!' Logan roared.

'It's inevitable,' Seok explained. 'The sooner you'll do this you can take her to wherever you go in America.'

'Fine,' Logan finally gave in. 'Let's go.'

'Wait, don't we need to bring some stuff?' Chloe asked.

'This is no holiday trip,' Logan snapped. 'We'll drive to Geneva, find Undine and get out of there as soon as possible. It's a nine hour drive. We'll make that in one go.'

'Okay,' Chloe was clearly scared by the explosive attitude of this man and was now a bit more reluctant to join them. The presence of the calm Jun seemed to ease her worries a bit, and without much further ado they set off for the car. On to the final mutant.

After two hours Chloe had given up on trying to make conversation. Logan was completely unresponsive and Jun was very difficult to communicate with due to very strong accents from both of them. The atmosphere had been very tense and upon reaching Geneva after nightfall they hardly knew anything about each other or the location of the new mutant.

As they entered the Genevan area Jun finally spoke up: 'Who is Undine?'

'Undine is a creature from German mythology. She's like a nymph, but then a bit more deadly.'

'What would that mean for her powers?'

'Something with her voice and appearance. Nymphs were known for beautiful singing and appearance, suggested is that they were able to change both to the preferences of their victim,' Chloe explained.

'Does it say anything about how we will find her?' Logan asked, finally speaking up. Chloe felt some pride in knowing he had accepted her enough to ask her this.

'Near water. Undine is a water creature and would have to be near water. A small river or source in a forest preferably.'

'Grab the laptop from behind your seat and look for forests around Geneva, it has to be there,' Logan said. Chloe rapidly typed away on the laptop. She was much more adapt at using that thing than Alex was, Logan noticed. She knew her way around it and in a few seconds she came up with the answer.

'Get off at the next exit.' Logan did exactly as he was told. Another exit, and another and finally they were off the highway. 'Take a right, and then the next right again.' They passed through a completely rural area and Logan could hardly imagine that this mutant would be hiding here. 'Right, then on to the end and we'll be in the Bois du Chateau, whatever that means. It's a forest.' The road got worse as they continued on it. And finally Chloe told them to stop.

'The GPS on this laptop is superly precise. I think I can point us to their exact location!' Chloe was definitely excited. Logan put the car to the side of the road and they moved into the woods. They headed towards a spot where the trees were not as dense and so there should be a fairly big chance of water there.

At that moment they heard a rope snap and a wooden spear was shot through Logan's shoulder. He groaned as his eyes rolled back in pain before he pulled it out. The wound immediately started healing itself.

'We have to be careful,' Jun said.

'No kidding,' Logan said sarcastically. Then he led the way through the forest, straight on to where Chloe was trying to get them. There were a few more traps, including a dart gun, which Logan spotted in time, and a net, that Logan didn't spot in time, but in the end they did spot the small cabin in the woods. Chloe had been right. But as soon as they spotted the cabin, they also saw the very blond, very fiery woman who started yelling at them in French. Her voice was loud and pitched and it hurt their ears.

'Would you just listen for a second?!' Logan eventually had to yell to shut her up. 'We're not here to harm you or anything. We know that you know about the second generations and we've come to help you.' Well, that was clearly the wrong thing to say and the woman let out a high pitched scream that blew Logan and Jun back with force. The power, however, bounced from Chloe back to the woman who was blown back. Chloe ran over.

'I'm sorry, that happens passively,' she held out her hand to help the woman up. 'I'm a second generation mutant, I am indestructible and I bounce off any force that comes at me. Please, we're looking for the last and youngest second generation mutant.'

'You cannot take my daughter away from me,' the woman finally said and got up on her own accord. 'Now, leave!'

'We can't,' Logan said. 'Because the thirteen year old girl I'm responsible for is far away and ill and she needs your daughter. Now can we just talk?' The blonde stared at Logan and then finally dropped her hands and nodded. Then she led the way to the cabin.

'Louisa, viens. Il y a des gens qui voulez te rencontre,' the woman called as they had entered the cabin. A cupboard opened and out came a small girl with the same blond hair as the woman.

'Que-ce que ils veulent, Mama?' Louisa asked.

'Ils veulent seulement de parler. C'est bien, chérie. Ils sont comme nous,' then she turned to Logan, Jun and Chloe. 'I still do not trust you, but I'm willing to listen. W'at are you doing 'ere and 'ow did you find us?'

Jun stepped forward: 'I'm Jun, this is Logan and Chloe. My daughter is a second generation mutant, as is Chloe, her brother Jason and Logan's stepdaughter Alex is the first second generation mutant. Unlike you she has been hunted for eight years already and they think they have finally found a way out, but they need all of us to make it succeed. Which is why we came to you. We found you because a source with Logan tracked Louisa down telepathically and called her Undine after placing her in Geneva. That's how we tracked you here.'

'Listen, I do not want to get caught up in zis. Nothing was wrong until zese stupid people from the Party for Mutant Domination came by and told me zat Louisa was needed to save ze mutant race. Save ze mutant race, as if. Louisa is five years old and 'er power is 'ardly developed.'

'Party for Mutant Domination, that's one I haven't heard before,' Logan said.

'I don't care who ze are, I just want to have Louisa live a peaceful life,' the blonde snapped at them.

'I understand, that's exactly what all of us want,' Jun said. 'And they seem to have found the answer to this,' Jun looked at Logan before turning back to the blonde.

'Your dau'ter is a mutant?' she asked and Jun nodded in reply. 'W'at is 'er power?'

'Jin can travel through time.'

'And zis Alex?' But at that moment Logan's phone ran. Well, it was really Mike's phone, but Sara had told him to take it so they could contact each other. It took Logan a second to figure which button picked up the phone but then he went outside to talk to Sara as Jun explained more to the blond mother of Louisa about Alex and what they had planned.

'Yeah,' Logan said in the phone.

'Logan, Alex is getting worse. She's letting of sparks and she is completely unresponsive. We don't know what to do,' Sara said.

'Wait, blue sparks?'

'Yes,' Sara exclaimed happily. 'Do you know what's going on?'

'Get the hell away from her and do not try to touch her. We'll head back straight away!' Logan hung up the phone before Sara could protest anymore and he burst into the cabin.

'We need to leave now,' he said loudly as he looked around. 'Grab only what's necessary and we'll head to the car.'

'What is happening?' Chloe asked confused.

'Alex condition just got worse,' Logan said. 'And it causes her mutation to act up.'

'Logan, I'm sure that Sara can handle it, she's a nurse and she's got two mutants herself. We don't need to get back straight away,' but Logan stopped her there.

'You don't understand, if Alex' mutation acts up she is completely uncontrollable and there is nothing you can do about it,' Jun was about to interrupt, but Logan stopped her again. 'No, listen. Alex has a so called plasma grenade as ability and it is a very powerful weapon, but if she loses control this will turn her into a nuclear time bomb. And I'm not exaggerating, she will blow herself up and she has already destroyed a bunker made to withstand a nuclear attack. Now tell me that's not a reason to go there right now.' Jun took a step back and nodded slowly.

'I will get my zings,' the blonde said.

'We'll get back to the car and I'll try to teleport us back to Amsterdam.' Logan's heart was pounding in his chest. His mind was filled with images of the first time Alex had exploded. She had been feverish the night before and during breakfast she had ran off. The exploding had gone on for nearly three hours and he didn't know how long before that the sparks had been there. Whatever it had been, they should head back straight away.

At that moment the blond woman reappeared with one backpack. Logan slung Chloe on his back as Louisa was picked up by her mother and they ran towards the car. Jun got there first and climbed in the drivers seat as the others climbed on the back.

'Hold on!' Jun yelled and they teleported.


	12. Known Terrorists

**Known Terrorists**

_With the Dutch and other authorities_

As soon as they landed in Amsterdam Logan jumped off the back of the truck nearly forgetting to put down Chloe. At the front door all others were awaiting him and Sara opened the door. He didn't stop, but ran straight on to the living room. Alex was unconscious and unmoving, but her mutation definitely wasn't. Sparks were flying around her, but they visibly weren't as violent as last time. Around her a lamp had shattered, a painting had come down and the couch was pretty damaged. Her cheeks were flushed with fever. He had to get her to Tatiana. Trying to ignore the pain of the sparks he picked her up and carried her outside to the car.

'Jun!' he yelled. 'Get us to New York.' But only then he saw that Jun was being held up by Seok.

'I can't, Logan. Not after I just teleported from Geneva. I'll need some time,' she said weakly. A spark hit the concrete and it cracked straight away. Alex was going to lose it. She was going to blow up. He had to get her out. Without another thought he decided to run back to the park. The other mutants called after him, but he wasn't listening. He ran like mad and stormed into the park. A few people looked at him like he was completely mad. In the centre of the park he came to a halt and looked around. Anything to make the explosion less bad. The pond. He hated having to do this, but he let Alex down into the water.

She didn't seem to notice the cold water. People gathered around and he noticed someone on the phone calling the cops. Alex' sparks were getting worse and around her the water was starting to boil. He had to get rid of those people and he knew but one way. With a mighty roar he pulled out his claws.

'Get the hell away from here!' Not a single moment of hesitation as panic drove everyone away from the park. Far away he could hear the police sirens coming closer, but there was nothing he could do.

'Lex, come on,' he sat next to her, but the sparks kept getting worse. The police cars came around the corner and even from the centre of the park he could hear their tires screech.

'Ga weg bij dat meisje en leg je handen op je hoofd!' One of the policemen called.

'Get away from here!' Logan yelled back, having no clue what the officer had told him to do.

'Sir, step away from the girl and put your hands on your head or we will shoot,' it was repeated. But Logan couldn't give in. Alex' body had started shaking and Logan could only think of one thing that was about to happen. The policemen had to get away. He pulled out his claws and headed for them.

'Hij is een mutant! Schiet hem neer!' Immediately fire was opened on Logan who was definitely slowed down by the bullets, but would not let himself be stopped. This was too important. After a few seconds the policemen froze as they saw that Logan's legs at which they had shot, were healing. Logan was just about to break into a run when behind him a mighty blast sounded. Logan spun around, his claws in front of his face as the blue explosion rushed past him. Skin was torn of his adamantium skeleton before he was eventually thrown against the ground after seconds of the blast.

The officers were slightly shielded by their cars, but nearly all of them had severe burns on their arms, face, shoulders and legs. The closest houses were slightly singed, but the water had been a good idea and no fires had broken out. It took Logan a second before he could get up, but as soon as he could he ran over to the now empty pond. Alex was completely motionless and showed no signs of life. Upon a closer investigation he noticed a very weak breathing and a weak pulse, but at least she was still alive. The colour was draining from her face and the sparks were just aftershocks.

'Lex, Lex, can you hear me?' He picked her up 'Lex, wake up!'

'Sir, put the girl down and put your hands on your head!' a policeman shouted.

'Lex, wake up. Lex!' Logan was panicking, why was she not waking up?

'Logan?' her voice was so weak and her eyes barely opened. 'Is it over? Am I dead?'

'Ze leeft nog! Sir, put down the girl…'

'Lex, you're not going to die. You can't.'

'I want it to be over. I'm sorry, dad.' Then she fell completely limp, her eyes closed.

'NO!' Logan clutched her in his arms. 'LEX!' He couldn't lose her. Not her. No one, ever again. He wanted to protect her. He wanted her to have stayed with him forever. 'LEX!' He didn't care about the officers, with and without burns, pointing their guns at him and yelling in two languages that he should come with them. He didn't care. He just want Alex to tell him this was all some sick joke and that she was fine. That he should have seen his own face and that she had totally got him. But she didn't.

Suddenly a car drove into the park at high speed. Officers had to jump to the side to not be ran over.

'Logan, get in, Jun can make it,' Seok yelled from the driver's seat.

'Alex can still be saved!' Jin added. 'We've seen it!'

'Get in the car, Logan!' Jason van Bergh shouted. And Logan did as he was told. Officers kept yelling at all of them to stay where they were and turn themselves in, but as soon as Logan had even touched the car they were all gone.

Delhia Janssen stood in front of her window with a camera in her shaking hand. She had recorded every second of the incident in HD. A moment longer she stood frozen before she ran down the stairs to the cops who were being ambushed by reporters at that moment. In quick Dutch she managed to fight her way through the reporters and got to the officer in charge to deliver her camera for the investigation.

Only hours later at the headquarters of the police in Amsterdam there was the first lead as to what exactly had occurred as the girl in the video was identified as Alexandra Darvis, a thirteen year old mutant who had been classified as extremely dangerous. She had been on the run from Amsterdam police for nearly four years after she had been pointed out as an accomplice to her father murdering several men and women. Now the questions was, had it not been her all along. The explosion was still inexplicable, as was the reaction of the mystery man with the wolf claws.

Across the world it was broadcasted and Alex face appeared on many television channels. A known terrorist with the Wolverine as a new accomplice.

Logan stumbled as the car landed at the side of a most familiar road. Of course Logan recognised it, whenever they needed someone to travel to New York he volunteered and this was the route he took to get back. The back and cabin of the car were filled with nine people, and all gathered around Logan. There was only room for three people in the front of the car and Logan could feel Alex' body starting to let of sparks again, but he would have to take the wheel.

'Chloe, Mike, I'm going to need you to keep everyone in the back safe,' Logan said as he laid Alex in the car. 'And you make sure she doesn't get anymore hurt.' The father and daughter van Bergh nodded and climbed in the back of the car. Also Sara van Bergh and Jason joined them. Seok would offer the slightest bit of comfort to Logan by being able to tell that Alex would still be doing fine for a while and he would have to sit up front, along with Louisa, who just couldn't sit on the back. So all others had to sit in the back.

Seok repeatedly had to remind Logan not to drive too fast as they turned on the highway and continued up north. Logan was jittery and Louisa was very uncomfortable about it getting close to crying at one point when Logan yelled at Seok for not being able to tell him what Alex' condition would be. Meanwhile in the back of the car all were lying down as low as possible to stay safer. Chloe was nearly lying on top of Alex to prevent the sparks from hitting the others.

Eventually Logan turned onto the driveway of the X-mansion. While all their guests gaped at the magnificent beauty of this semi castle Logan jumped out of the car and ran over to the trunk. They made way for him as he hurried over to Alex, the sparks were getting even worse. He picked her up and started towards the mansion.

'Storm?! Tatiana?! Storm immediately appeared at the door.

'Logan!' but then her eyes fell on the girl in his arms. 'Oh my god, Alex! Taylor, find all the members of staff and get Tatiana ready.' The small teleporter nodded and started flashing through the building. Within seconds the whole mansion seemed to come to life. Tatiana being one of the firsts at the door. All knew what happened when Alex went out of control and this was escalating by the second. Tatiana immediately started ordering everyone around. Storm took the new mutants to her office to talk with them.

Logan had no idea what was happening exactly, but he just ran after all of them as they got downstairs to the infirmary Tatiana, Bobby, Rogue and Maze all went inside and the doors were closed.

Logan tried the door, but Tatiana had locked it: 'Let me in!'

'We can't let you in, Logan,' Maze said from the other side. 'Tatiana wont have you here.' With that Maze turned away and started helping Tatiana. Logan couldn't do anything but watch.

In the infirmary Tatiana was starting the surgery. Alex condition was getting increasingly worse, partially due to the metal shards in her body that were conducting her plasma sparks. Tatiana's healing fingers did nothing and they could barely managed to touch Alex with all the blue sparks. There was only one solution.

'Rogue, get the cure,' she said loudly.

'Are you sure? Last time you said the only reason she survived were her healing powers if you use the cure…'

'I know it could kill her, but if we don't do anything now she'll blow all of us up, including herself,' Tatiana said and Rogue didn't hesitate any longer but took the syringe. Having remembered the IV problem last time they had Maze use his telekinetics to inject it in Alex' thigh and the results were immediately visible. Alex fell completely limp and all powers stopped showing. Immediately all got back to working on her. Heart monitor, brain activity monitor, oxygen supply.

Alex skin broke open over her metal shards and every second her breathing and heart rate got slower and her pulse got weaker. Tatiana and Rogue worked as fast as they could, but despite Bobby keeping the room temperature near zero Alex was losing more and more blood. The stitches were only tearing her skin apart even more as if she was really falling apart now her powers were inactive.

'Tatiana, we're losing her!' Rogue exclaimed as she looked at the monitors.

'We need a bit more time,' Tatiana said before finally managing to pull out another for the shards that had been jammed in her wrists. They still needed to remove those in her skull, and without healing powers they were potentially lethal. With the one over Alex' heart gone Rogue had stitched up Alex chest again and was starting chest compressions by Tatiana's instructions. It wasn't much, but it kept Alex alive. All her signs of life were decreasing as Tatiana started on one of the shards in her skull.

Outside the door Logan could do nothing but stare as Alex slowly started showing less signs life. Rogue did all she could, but it was a true race against the clock. They had three more minutes before Alex' powers would kick back in. If Tatiana used her healing powers now she would only make it more difficult to remove the last shard and it was stuck very badly. One of the tips of metal had actually grown into her skull and it was impossible to get it back out.

'Heart rate to fifteen,' Rogue said desperately.

'Brain activity is also going down,' Bobby added.

'Just two more minutes,' Maze handed Tatiana a scalpel so she could remove the thin layer of bone around the metal shard.

'Heart rate to ten.'

Logan wanted to storm in and do something, but there was nothing he could do.

'Just a little more,' Tatiana removed the overgrown bone and now could start removing the crew with which the metal shard had been fastened into her skull.

'Heart rate to 8.'

'One more minute!' Tatiana worked her very hardest, but this last shard was completely stuck.

'Her heart stopped!' Storm exclaimed as the heart rate monitor started emitting that horrid tone.

'Thirty seconds.'

'Rogue get the defibrillator ready,' Tatiana yelled as her nimble fingers were almost fumbling under the sheer pressure. She had no more time.

'Fifteen seconds.' The shard got stuck again at the very last bit. She couldn't give up now. She took a deep breath.

'Brain activity dropping!'

'Five seconds.' With a sharp twist the shard came loose and at that moment a second tone sounded. Her brain activity had stopped. Alex was dead.

'NO! LEX!' Logan roared, but as soon as he did all turned black.

Blackness was all around him, but Logan was quite sure he was completely awake.

'Hello?'

'Hello, Wolverine.' Logan turned around and came face to face with Danny, only, he seemed different.

'Danny?' Logan asked.

'I prefer Sniffer. Fox was very nice to me.'

'Don't talk about Alex!' Logan snapped.

'That is why I called you here, Wolverine. If I hadn't taken over your mind, you would have gone berserk about the death of Fox.'

'You little-.'

'I'm here to show you that Alex is not dead,' Danny pulled up a screen and through the blackness a female voice echoed.

'Alexandra Darvis, age: thirteen, gender: female, parents: diseased, status: temporarily disabled.'

'What's that supposed to mean?!' Logan yelled.

'Powers. Level 1 telepathy, level 1 telekinesis, level 2 speed, level 3 diamond skin, level 3 flexibility, level 4 plasma grenade. In process: healing powers growing to level 4.'

'Before she was level 3, level 2 was needed to keep her alive. Level 4 is your level Wolverine. She can survive nearly anything.'

'So, she'll live?'

'She will, but before I let you go I have to tell you something very important.'

'Wait a minute, weren't you supposed to be out of your mind?' Logan suddenly realised.

'My body restricts me, but in here I'm just highly intelligent. Now, will you listen?'

'Yeah, eh, go on.'

'Alexandra wasn't the first one, There have been two before her. They are the key to finding out what is happening.'

'This is starting to sound a lot like a science fiction mystery. Is the connection going to break soon so you can't tell me what exactly is happening?'

'I can sustain this forever, but this is all I know. Nathan Monroe and Ainri Oduya were there before but both are dead. You'll have to look them up yourself to see what happened with them. All I know is that their signatures have disappeared from the world now.'

'You're kidding, right?' Logan snorted.

'I kid you not, Wolverine. But this is all I know.'

'Wait, that's all you're going to tell me?'

'I wish I could tell you more, but my body is keeping me from finding out more. You will take care of Alexandra, right?'

'I will,' Logan was slightly confused by all of this. Well not slightly actually quite a bit. After all it didn't make any sense at all. But what the hell was he supposed to do.

'Then we shall part here. Farewell, Wolverine,' and with that the blackness disappeared.

With a jolt Logan was forced back into the present and his claw tore through the door to the infirmary, clearing a path for him. The four around the surgery table all turned to Logan, their faces not only sad about what had happened to Alex, but also fearful of what Logan might do to them.

'Logan, I'm sorry, I-,' Tatiana started, but Logan paid her no mind. He walked straight passed her and stopped next to the lifeless form of Alex.

'Okay, kid. You apparently have the same healing powers as I do, so you'd better heal yourself right now.'

'Logan, she's brain-dead. She's gone,' Rogue tried telling him, but Logan wouldn't have it.

'No, she's not. She can heal, I know it.'

'Logan, you've never been brain-dead,' Bobby said.

'She can pull through, I know it.'

'Logan, it's no use,' Maze tried. 'She-,' a sudden beep interrupted them. All eyes shot at the heart rate monitor. Another beep. The third one followed even faster. Alex body was quickly rejected all stitches and sewing itself back up. Her heart rate was increasing, the oxygen supply indicated her using a lot of air, her brain activity was climbing again. Her heart rate kept going up 30, 40, 60, 90 and still climbing.

'She is going to go into cardiac arrest if this doesn't slow down,' Tatiana said. 130. The wounds on Alex face were rapidly closing. 180.

Alex jolted awake with a loud scream. The heart monitor indicated a heart rate of 207. Alex pulled the oxygen supply away from her face and with ragged breaths she tried to overcome her intense experience.

'I was dead, I could swear it,' she choked out. Then a laugh left her throat. Logan couldn't help but join in as he leaned on the operation table with his hands. Tatiana could definitely not believe it.

'Holy, freaking hell, could you two just stop dying on me!' She would probably have liked to hit them both, but now settled for just Logan. Unfortunately his adamantium skull was too hard and while his head bounced down she hurt her hand pretty bad.

'Sorry,' Alex said before turning to Logan. 'And that I scared you. I really thought I was a goner.'

'You're going to need a whole lot more than that to actually die, I speak from experience,' Logan said with a grin.

'Is there anything you want?' Rogue asked Alex.

'A beer would be great.'

'Are you sure? It's not good for you to drink at this age,' Tatiana tried.

'In case you haven't noticed. I just died and came back to live. And you may not know it, but dying sucks. Ask this creep if you want to know, but it is definitely not just a little white light promising you good things.'

'The kid is telling the truth,' Logan backed her up. 'Come on, Lex, can you walk?' Alex hopped off the table and stared at her feet in amazement.

'That didn't hurt,' she was truly surprised, but then lost her balance and fell to her knees. Four sets of hands reached out to help her up but she declined: 'I can do this. It's been over three years since I've been able to move without pain. This is amazing! Did you... Did you remove them?!' Alex turned to Tatiana who smiled friendly and nodded.

'This is great!' she tried moving in different ways before she actually took a step. A big smile broke out on her face.

'Let's go to the kitchen!' she exclaimed loudly and went first as they headed upstairs.

Alex released a sigh as she swallowed her sip of beer: 'Who knew that life could taste so good?'

'It's just a cheap wall mart brand,' Maze said a bit surprised at her overdone reaction.

'Oh, shut it. I've never had anything better.'

'And we are going to keep it that way,' Tatiana said loudly, getting nothing but agreement from all adults around the table, including Logan. Most of the teachers were already in the kitchen with the exception of Shadowcat who was, as she was fifty percent of the time, on duty to watch over the students. Rogue and Storm had just entered with the second generation families, who they had shown around the school.

'How are you feeling, Alex?' Sara asked.

'Better than I've felt in three years. Nothing is going to stop me now from beating those fu-,' Jun's hand suddenly appeared over Alex mouth.

'Not around my daughter.'

'Oops, sorry, I forgot that you were actually raised normally,' Alex took another sip of beer.

'Should you be drinking tha-,' but this time Jun was cut off.

'Don't even try it,' Maze spoke up. 'We already have and it's not going to work. The kid just died and came back to life. Apparently that's good enough an excuse for them to give her alcohol.' The telekinetic teacher shrugged and took a sip of his coffee.

'Would you all just stop calling me a kid,' Alex said.

'You never complained before,' Logan teased.

'You were the only one who called me that!' this drew more laughter from the people around them, but Alex didn't mind. She enjoyed the easy atmosphere as did most of the people around her. Not all of them had seen the pain of war, of being hunted and of doubt, but all of them could appreciate the peace. Unfortunately they couldn't stay like this and Storm took the responsibility of cutting the subject.

'Alex, you were the one who wanted to find all second generation mutants. What is your plan?' All eyes turned to Alex who put down her bottle of beer and turned to look at it. It stayed silent for a few seconds as Alex held her bottle.

'Alex?' Rogue asked.

'I… I don't know,' Alex said softly.

'You don't know?' Jason van Bergh exclaimed.

'You mean zat we 'ave come 'ere for nothing?' Louisa's mother, Isabelle Dumonteaux, exclaimed slightly vexed.

'No, I know we can solve it with all of us. I just… Haven't worked out the details yet.'

'Zat is it, I'm going back to Geneva!' Isabelle took Louisa's hand and turned around to walk away.

'Isabelle, you can't,' Sara spoke.

'What do you mean?'

'You return to your cabin in Geneva,' Sara took a deep breath, 'they will find you. You can't go back until the threat is gone. Which means, until we've figured out a plan, we're going nowhere.'

'Putain!' Louisa's mouth formed an o as she was the only other person in the room who knew exactly the swearword that Isabelle had used. It was definitely not appropriate language around a five year old, but most people in the room got the impression that Isabelle was quite liberal in that aspect of raising a child.

'Maybe it would help to talk to the Sniffer again?' Alex suggested.

'You mean Danny?' Tatiana asked.

'There's no need to do that,' Logan emptied his bottle of beer as all eyes turned towards him. 'I already spoke to him.'

'What did he tell you?' Storm asked eagerly.

'Something about a key to find out what is happening. Bottom line, there were two second generations before Alex. Both died.'

'How?'

'He didn't know. Their names were Nathan Munroe and Ainri Oduya. That was really all he told me,' Logan leant back in his chair.

'Nathan Munroe, why do I know that name?' Chloe said to herself.

'The laptop's in the backpack,' her father told her and Chloe immediately went to retrieve it. It didn't take long for the laptop to start up and Chloe truly was extremely good with the laptop. Her brother Jason sat next to her and seemed to follow exactly what she was doing.

'There it is,' he finally pointed out. 'Nathan Munroe, official statement says that there was a gas explosion in her house, but an eyewitness claims that Nathan blew himself up. Conspiracy sites are all over this case.'

'Ainri Oduya,' Chloe continued as she typed. 'There's nothing about her here. Just an obituary of nine years ago. She was the daughter of a famous mutant pianist and she died at the age of five.' That was it. That was all there was on those two, but it spiked Alex' interest.

'Are there also conspiracy theorists working on Ainri?'

'No, it never got enough media publicity. I can't even tell you how she died,' Chloe said.

'She has to have been killed,' Alex said.

'Couldn't she have been instable, like Nathan?' Rogue asked.

'I don't believe Nathan was unstable either,' Alex said. 'But I think that he could not control his powers at that time. He was probably, what, five?'

'Six,' Jason corrected.

'Whatever, That's the very first year of powers for us. They're not that strong since we grow into them. My first power was speed, and that increased over time as I could go faster and faster. Something must have triggered that explosion.'

'But you said that when you get a new power-,' Storm was however interrupted by Alex.

'For the last few years, yes. In the beginning I just got new powers. I felt a bit different in the days leading up to it, but I never exploded like that. Powers don't kill us, that's why we're special. We sustain ourselves. We die at an early age, then something is going on. I bet Ainri was murdered and that Nathan also had something that spiked his powers. I just don't know what.'

'How do you know all of this?' Mike van Bergh asked. And again all eyes rested on Alex as she took her time to answer. She suppressed the memories by taking another swig of her beer before rubbing a hand over her face.

'Believe it or not, in the beginning we weren't just running away. We were trying to solve this. Well, more my dad than me, but we both worked on it. He was convinced that there had to be others. He checked into every story we heard, every place we went, he was obsessed with finding them. That's how we got to Amsterdam in the first place. The story of a mutant trucker who swore he had seen a boy that was too young to have developed his powers, use power in the woods. But in that period of time my dad did thorough research and he also said he thought there might have been someone before me, but that they got killed.'

'I honestly hadn't thought about it before this,' suddenly Alex realised something. 'His research is probably still in the car!'

'His research?' Storm questioned.

'Yes. Everything he had on the second generation mutation. It was not much, but it was very important to him. Whenever we moved he had a three step checklist. 1, me, 2, research, 3 everything else. I suppose he also hoped that he could avenge mom's death with it. It might be exactly what we're looking for.'


	13. Revelations

**Revelations**

_With the second generations and secrets_

'Got it!' A thump told them that Alex had hit her head I her uncomfortable position in the car. After all, they could only see her feet since she was upside down in the passenger seat. The door opened and Alex rolled out with a very thin file, which she gave to Logan.

'Thank you Alex,' Storm said. 'Now it would be good for all of you to catch some sleep. It's been a long day. Kitty has prepared a room for you.'

'But what about the file?' Alex asked.

'We'll take care of that,' Storm said. Alex would have protested, had she not been so tired. Yes, despite the fact that she had been unconscious for quite a while, she was dead tired. It had taken a lot of her powers and she wasn't sure if the fever would return because of sleep deprivation. And so she went ahead to her cupboard, but Kitty told her there that it would be good for the other children if they shared their room with someone familiar with the building and they trusted Alex. Doubtful Alex complied.

The room with six bunk beds now contained all second generation mutants. Somewhat fearful and not knowing what to expect they all found themselves unable to sleep.

'Hey, Jason. Are you still awake?' Chloe whispered in the dark.

It took a second before Jason replied: 'Yeah, can't sleep either'

'Makes three of us,' tank said.

'I think the only one asleep is Louisa,' breathed Jin quietly to make sure they didn't wake the sleeping five year old. Alex groaned inwardly that Shadowcat/professor Kitty had been right. They were uncomfortable in these new surroundings. Alex hadn't been able to fall asleep herself because of all these people around her who she could hurt in her nightmares. Silently she slipped out of her bed and checked on Louisa, who was fast asleep, before turning on the lights.

'Hey,' Chloe blinked against the light. 'Why did you do that?'

'Since we're all not going to be able to sleep, we'd better not wake Louisa.'

'But they told us to go to our room,' Jin said.

'We won't get caught. I know the perfect place to go,' Alex said. This was apparently enough for the other four and they all snuck out of the room and tiptoed down to the staff's quarters. Once Alex had closed the door of the chosen room behind them she flipped on the light.

'Wow, this is so big,' Chloe remarked.

'Who's room is this?' Tank asked. 'Is it yours?'

'Of course not, my room is the broom closet next to this room. They offered me the room across this one, but it was far too big. This is a staff room.'

'Are you sure we won't get caught?' Jin asked slightly worried.

'Don't worry, it's just Logan's room.'

'Are you kidding?' Jason said loudly. 'He'll rip us to pieces!'

'No, he won't,' Alex explained. 'Because it was my idea. He might get pretty angry, but the big bad Wolverine would never hurt me. And besides, we had a valid reason. So relax and make yourselves comfortable.' Alex flopped down on the bed and the others followed her example, albeit a bit hesitantly.

'So, what do we do now?' Chloe asked.

'I don't know. You were the ones who were talking, so talk.'

'Okay, so, Jin, what are you going to do when all this is over?' Chloe asked.

'I'm not sure. I really want to go to medical school and become a doctor. With my powers I'd never make a mistake and I could save everyone.'

'That's pretty cool,' Tank said. 'I've never thought about a job. I guess my powers would be good for being a technician or something.'

'Think bigger, Tank! You could be an inventor or make weapons and epic machines,' Chloe bounced on the bed in excitement. 'I'm planning on joining the FBI or CIS. I'm good with computers so the CIA might be good.

'Isn't that, like, really dangerous?' Jin asked.

'Of course not! I'm practically indestructible,' then Chloe turned to Alex. 'What do you want to do in the future.'

'Live,' Alex replied bluntly.

'I get that, but when we've solved this mess, what do you want to do?'

'Not die?' Alex suggested.

'Chloe meant like a job or something like that,' Tank explained to Alex who was kind of confused because thoughts about the future were foreign to her in general. She stayed silent for a few seconds pondering over an answer.

'I don't know. I've never thought that far into the future. I was never sure I'd make it to the end of the week, let alone until I was old enough to start a job.' Alex sighed: 'And besides what I want doesn't matter if I'm not qualified. There are not many thing I can do.'

'Are you kidding?!' Tank exclaimed. 'You can drive a car, you speak Japanese, you can fight adults.'

'That's not all,' Alex sighed again. 'I can't write and my reading is really bad. My knowledge of modern day technology extents to the car and what I've read in books, I can't calculate and I've never really gone to school. If that's not enough the fact that I'm a known terrorist tops it off, I can never get rid of that reputation.

'You're a pessimist, Alex,' Jin said trying to comfort her. 'It will probably turn out fine. What would you want to do?'

'Could we just shut up about it?!' Alex snapped. 'Stop (here followed a swearword, but with Jin's gasp at the foul language we'll never know what Alex said exactly)–ing about it.' Alex fell back on the bed and refused to talk anymore. After a minute Chloe took charge of the conversation again and soon the incident was forgotten by the other four. It was getting later and it had been a long day and eventually they were starting to drift off to sleep, but Alex didn't notice that anymore before sleep overtook her.

To say that Logan was not amused with the state of his room the next morning was a severe understatement. The meeting had gone on for hours and after that Logan had suddenly second watch of the night. Had he not had second watch he would probably still have been angry, but he might not have been exactly as pissed as he was right now. He had a lot on his mind and he needed some peace of mind. A sleep and cigar deprived Logan was very bad, but if then that little brat had to pester him. Because, of course, it had to have been her idea. No, Alex was going to get it.

He grabbed her ankle and hoisted her up in the air: 'What the hell is this?!" All awoke with a start and spilled out of the room with the exception of Alex who was dangling upside down.

'I don't know what you're talking about! I don't know anything!' Only then she realised the person holding her was Logan and she immediately calmed down, realising she was in no real danger. 'Oh, morning.' She tried giving him a sweet smile, but with her not being very good at it anyway in combination with hanging upside down it resulted in such utter failure it caused Logan to growl at her.

'What were you doing in my room?'

'Your room? I thought it belonged to the school,' Alex defended.

'Kid,' Logan's voice was low and threatening, but Alex seemed unfazed.

'We were sleeping.'

'Alex!'

'Okay, okay, I'll talk, but can you, please, put me down first. My head is getting all fuzzy.' Without a warning Logan dropped Alex on the bed and crossed his arms over his chest as he stared at her. 'But only if you tell me what you discovered last night.' Alex sat up to meet Logan's stare.

'Lex, just get out of here.'

'What did you find out?' Alex persisted.

'Beat it, kiddo, I've been up all night and I need to sleep!'

'I need to know Logan, so tell me!' Outside the other four ran off to not have to hear the foul exchange of words that followed from Logan's mouth.

'- off, Lex! Go ask Storm of whoever. Just get out of ehre before I put a set of claws through your stomach!' Alex stared at him defiantly for a few more seconds, but then got of the bed and marched to the door.

'I need to know and I will find out,' she said darkly with her hand on the doorknob.

'I don't care, just get out,' Logan bit back and with that Alex slammed the door behind her.

'You said he'd never hurt you,' Chloe said.

'And he didn't, but he also didn't tell me what they found out,' Alex grumbled. Why hadn't he just told her to get rid of her? Was he hiding something? Probably not, he was just tired and fed up with her. Logan would even pester her now. Fine, if he wanted to play it that way she would ask someone else.

'We could try tot talk to our parents,' Jin suggested.

'Can we first get dressed?' Jason cut in between. 'I don't fancy walking around the school like this much longer.'

'And a shower, cause you smell,' Chloe said to her brother.

'We'll do that and then talk to our parents,' Tank decided.

'You do that. I'm going to talk to Storm.' With that Alex disappeared in her room/broom closet. On instinct she grabbed some clothes and started putting them on. Why hadn't Logan wanted to tell her what they had discovered. Normally he would give her the gist of what was going on and then sent her off to figure out the details from the other teachers. Especially with something as important as this. Was he hiding something from her? She trusted him completely and he didn't even trust her with information from her father?! She needed answers, they could save her life. She was going to get her answers, first stop; Storm's office.

Alex didn't even notice she had put on the exact clothes she had come in with. Even after having been washed three times in a row, the stains dirt and smell hadn't come out of the clothes and according to the teachers they were ready for the dumpster, but Alex had stashed them away as a reminder of her past. Now they were fuelling her anger. She may not have been as dirty and worn as when she had first come in, but she definitely looked as old and hardened as then. The girl Logan had picked up three months ago who he thought was at least sixteen years old. This was the girl on the run who would do anything to get away from her pursuers. Her father had once risked his life for that information, so it had to be vital. And so she marched to Storm's office and knocked on the door.

Bobby opened the door for her: 'Hey, Alex? What are you doing here?'

Alex immediately cut to the case: 'I want to know what was in my dad's file.' She stepped past Bobby into the office and stood in front of the desk with her arms crossed.

Storm and Bobby shared a look before Storm spoke: 'Alex, are you okay? Is something wrong?'

'I'm fine, I just want to know what's in my dad's file.'

'We spent quite a while talking about a lot of things last night, Alex. Is it okay if we tell you everything a bit later when we have a bit more time, breakfast is in half an hour.' Storm already got up to join Bobby in walking away, but Alex wasn't satisfied. Her suspicion had just been confirmed. They were stalling. They were hiding something from her.

'What are you not telling me,' she spoke harshly just as Storm reached the door.

'I don't know wha-,' but Storm's attempt to deny it was futile and only enraged Alex.

'Don't lie to me! You told me I could trust you!'

'You can, Alex,' Bobby tried, but Alex was no longer to be reasoned with.

'Then tell me what you found!'

'You will have to trust us on this,' Storm said. 'We only want what's best for you.'

'Right now, I don't trust either of you with anything.' Alex walked up to her two teachers: 'I will get my answers.' Her dark tone was emphasised by her diamond skin pulling up. Bobby opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Alex who forcefully left he office at mutant speed, throwing Bobby and Storm on the ground.

Bobby immediately crawled up: 'She's going to lose it if she finds out without Logan.'

'We can't get him,' Storm said as she too got up. 'We need to buy us some more time.' Bobby nodded and ran off after Alex, closely followed by Storm.

Maze had been practising outside with his knives until he had suddenly been pushed against the wall by Alex: 'What did you find in my father's file?' Fire raged in her eyes and Maze had never believed he could be this scared by a thirteen year old girl.

'What are you talking about?' He was not going to let his student overpower him, but Alex wasn't buying his play.

'You know exactly what I'm talking about!' Alex language was turning fouler by the second as her anger was rising. 'So cut the crap and start talking or I'll hurt you in so many ways you'll wish I had killed you!'

'Do you think you can suddenly defeat me, Alex?' His knives started floating in the air behind her. 'You're still just a student.'

Just a second she let go of him and in a flash of white all his knives were broken on the ground before she pushed him even harder against the wall with her hand over his face ready to fry it with a plasma grenade: 'That's because we never fought with powers. Don't challenge me!'

But Maze didn't give in. He was stronger and more adapt at using his powers. He pushed Alex off and summoned a sword and knife belt with his telekinesis. This put Alex off for just a second, but then fury overtook her. Maze had become one of the people who were in the way of her freedom from her pursuers and so he had become her enemy. She got to her feet and formed a plasma grenade in her hand. Maze immediately started sending his knives at her, but Alex pulled up her diamond skin and pushed as hard as she could with her telekinesis to slow the knives down just enough to prevent damage. It slowed down her plasma grenade, but it was not enough and Maze had to jump out of the way. He was only just in time and struggled to get up. But Alex had already sped over to him at lightning speed and before he even got to his feet her diamond fist had collided with his nose.

'Tell me,' another blow, 'what you,' the third blow broke even his cheekbones and he was hardly able to talk from the pain, 'know!' But Alex didn't see his pain through her rage. She grabbed both his shoulders and slammed him into the ground. Maze groaned, but didn't give in. Instead he hauled his sword at her and swung it in her arm. It sunk in until the bone and she screamed in pain, giving Maze just the window of opportunity he needed to push her away with his telekinesis, get up and call back his weapons. Alex' arm healed rapidly and now she was one hundred percent serious. All her doubt about hurting her teacher were gone from her mind. He was going to suffer.

'No!' but Bobby's scream was futile as Maze started throwing his knives. Alex ran at full speed at Maze, using her still relatively new flexibility power to dodge every one of the knives before boring her diamond fingers in Maze's side as she forced him to the ground again. He screamed as she bore her thumb into his right elbow, rendering his arm useless and sending waves of pain all the way up to his shoulder and down to his fingertips. She was just hooking finger under his collarbone when she was tackled to the ground by a huge metal body. Alex fought and used all her powers to break free, but Tinman didn't let her go. She cursed everyone and the world as she was pulled to her feet, still captured in Tinman's tight grip. Tatiana immediately used her healing powers on Maze who visibly recovered, but still needed to be dragged off to the infirmary.

'- liars! I trusted you!'

'Alex, you're not yourself,' Storm said.

'Tell me what the hell you're keeping from me!'

'Alex, calm down,' Bobby said, but it only made it worse.

'Tell me what's going on!'

'Alex-.'

'Tell me!' she roared.

'You're sick and dying!'


	14. The Approaching

**Revelations**

_With Maze and Logan_

'You're sick, Alex and possibly dying,' Jun repeated this time a bit softer. She and her parents had brought Tinman to the scene, but Jin had tears on her cheeks. Immediately Alex stopped struggling.

'Jin,' Storm said.

'I had no choice, she would kill someone.'

'Sick and dying?' Alex still couldn't grasp it. 'How?'

'Cancer,' Storm now finally gave in and explained. 'It's advanced and spread. Your mood swings, uncontrollable attacks of your powers, seizures, your dizziness and nausea, it's because there are multiple tumours in your brain.'

'We didn't see them on your x-rays before, but once we looked for them they were there,' Bobby said. 'They've been there for quite a while now.'

'But if they've been there for that long, then can't I just survive this? I mean, my dad-.'

'Your father never knew you had the tumours,' Storm said. 'He just knew that it was tumours that caused Nathan to blow himself up. Ainri had them in such a developed state she was completely paralyzed before she was shot point blank.' Silence fell and all eyes were on the girl in Tinman's arms. She shrunk back to the thirteen year old girl she really was. Maze's blood on her hands and face, her own blood on her clothes, made her only seem weaker.

'So that means that all this was for nothing?' Alex asked timidly. Nobody knew how to reply to this. The strong Alex they had come to know at the school now looked so very small and defeated in Tinman's grip. 'At least I won't die by their hand.'

'Don't give up hope yet, Alex,' Storm said. 'Tatiana might be able to remove them.'

'Do any of the others have them?'

'We don't know yet,' Bobby said. 'But Tatiana is going to make a scan today and then we'll know.' Alex' face was slowly turning into the blank mask she always showed them when she was in pain. With a soft nod to the Tinman he gently tell her go and Alex straightened her back.

'I need some time,' all emotion was gone from her face now. Storm nodded and Alex turned invisible before walking away to make sure no one would follow her.

'She looks terrible,' Bobby said softly after they were sure Alex was out of earshot.

'She was trembling,' Tinman said as he walked over to them.

'Just let her,' Storm said. 'She is not going to destroy anything. It's not nothing to hear this. She needs time an we'll give it to her.'

'Do you think Logan can help her?' Bobby asked as they all turned to walk inside.

'I'm not sure,' Storm said. 'He took it very hard yesterday. The only time I've seen him like this was when…'

'When professor Grey died,' Bobby finished for her. Storm nodded.

Back then Logan had ran away, this time he hadn't. He couldn't. Alex needed him and he would be there for her, no matter how much it hurt him. But that didn't mean he would share his sentiments with her. In his dreams she died over and over again. The one person with his healing powers who didn't try to kill him, who would live forever with him, his family. And now, a stupid nearly extinct disease was taking her away from him. He would have to be strong for her, but he wasn't sure what he would do if the disease did take her. There would be nothing to keep him sane then, no one to blame, no goal to fight for. He would fall to pieces without a purpose.

They wouldn't let that happen of course. Storm would desperately try and keep him together, but this time he wasn't sure he wanted to. Would there be a reason for living? An Adamantium bullet to his brain might ease the pain. Losing more memories. But by losing his memories he would also lose the good times he had had with her, and with everyone else. She really had become like his daughter, and for the first time he actually wanted to be her dad. He wanted to take care of her, to have her come to him with problems and to rely on him. Damn it! Why now?! Why did this world hate him so much?

Logan looked at his digital clock. 12.30. He was not going to fall asleep again so he'd better get up and do something the others had decided to wait with giving Alex the news until he was there. Alex had probably figured out by now that they were waiting with giving her the news and would have gotten slightly frustrated. He had better make haste. He splashed some water in his face to get rid of the last bit of tiredness and got dressed. Only a few minutes later he appeared in the dining room of the mansion all ready to face today's big challenge.

There were a few students playing a board game or doing their homework and they greeted him, but Logan was surprised to not find any members of the staff. Most were teaching classes and he suspected that Tatiana would be at the infirmary as she usually was. Storm, however, was not in her office as he had suspected nor was she teaching a history class. Also Maze seemed to have disappeared. All other teachers were busy so he just decided to go down to Tatiana and see if she knew anything.

Down at the infirmary he just walked straight in. Maze was testing his muscles and Storm and Tatiana were observing him. There were a few stitches in his side and his right arm was wrapped in a tight bandage. They hadn't seen Logan come in and were too busy with Maze's condition to pay any attention to their surroundings at all.

'What happened here?' Logan asked. The two women spun around and all three other members of staff looked at him.

'Logan, we hadn't expected you to be up for at least two more hours,' Storm said.

'Yeah, too much on my mind. What happened did you have an accident in class?'

'No,' Maze said. 'It's good you're here. I had a run in with you protégé.'

'What? Lex would never-.'

'She was upset we wouldn't tell her what was in her father's file,' Storm said. 'She confronted me and Bobby in my office and then got into a fight with Maze.'

'Is Iceman alright?' Logan asked.

'He's fine. Nothing more than a few bruises on us,' Storm said. 'But she broke several bones in Maze's face, bore her fingers in his side and put her thumb through his entire elbow. So we told her.' It took a moment before Logan realised what that meant. Why hadn't they called him?

'Where is she?'

'In her car, probably,' Storm said. Logan didn't hesitate any longer and immediately headed for the garage. He sincerely hoped she had not started up her car and driven away, like he feared she would. It was just like her to literally run away from this problem. As soon as he entered the garage he released a sigh of relief. The car was still there. He walked over to the driver's side and looked inside. Alex laid on the passenger's seat with her head on the driver's seat. He couldn't see her face, but he knew she had been crying.

'You crying, kid?'

'No,' she replied without looking up. Logan huffed at her answer and opened the door to get in. Alex sat up and wiped away the tears.

'You did quite some damage to Maze this morning.'

'I couldn't help it and it was mainly his fault.'

'How was you beating him up his fault?'

'I was just asking a question and he only had to answer it to get rid of me, but then he starts shooting knives at me. I wasn't serious until he slashed me with his sword.' Alex still didn't look up, but she was now leaning against him.

'In that case I'm proud of you. Those were some pretty good blows, even if he had already been stitched up by Tatiana. Did you really put your thumb through his elbow?' Alex nodded slowly. 'Clever move, though I'd prefer it when you do that with real bad guys.'

'I'm sorry, okay!' she finally looked at him as she snapped. 'I didn't really want to hurt him, but you were keeping this from me and I thought I needed to know. Turns out I was better off not knowing after all.'

'How much did they tell you?'

'That I'm going to die. The tumours and the two before me,' Alex sighed. 'I wish they had told me something unimportant they discussed. Anything at all.'

'There was not much good news for us last night, but this definitely topped it.'

'What else did you find out?'

'That you're being hunted by basically every intelligence agency in the world, a human party of the American Government and two groups of mutants. So basically everyone. Even if it came down to a confrontation, we'd be outnumbered.' Alex nodded silently signalling him she understood. Logan wasn't sure what to do. He wasn't even sure how she was feeling at the moment. Of course she was upset, she didn't want to die, but there also seemed to be something else and he didn't know what it was.

'I don't want to cry anymore,' she suddenly spoke. 'I never cried before my dad died. Not when I was tortured, not when we were betrayed, not when I thought we were going to die. I just never cried. I don't understand why I do now. I cry all the time, when I have nightmares, when I get hurt, when things like this happen.'

'Maybe you found something worth crying over?'

'What do you mean?'

'When you were with your dad, all you ever did was run. You only had the present and no matter how bad it was you were still with your dad. After that you had the past to cry over, and now we've given you a future you can lose. I suppose that's plenty of reason to cry.'

'Do you think there's anything I can do about it?'

'From experience,' Logan said. 'Just go an do something. Face new things head on and eventually you will manage to forget.' Alex nodded and too a deep breath.

'Will you do a danger room with me?'

'Wow, kid, not so fast. You sure you're up for it?'

'I'm always ready for a fight,' that was the first time she turned to face him. On her face was an empty grin, but he did see determination in her eyes. The sadness was not gone, but at least she was fighting again.

'I'll see if I can find another teacher available,' Logan said. 'You go ahead to the danger room.' Alex nodded and they both got out of the car.

Knowing most of the teachers were teaching classes at the moment Logan just went to the infirmary to see if Storm, Maze and Tatiana were still there. Storm had left, but Maze and Tatiana were still there. Maze was now almost completely healed. He still was visibly bothered by his right arm since Tatiana had trouble healing that, but Maze was helping Tatiana set up

'Hey, either of you mind operating the danger room?'

'What do you need with the danger room?' Maze asked.

'Alex needs something to do.'

'Oh, no, I will not have it,' Tatiana exclaimed. 'She is not going into the danger room with anyone or without. That girl needs to rest and make sure she doesn't suffer head trauma.'

'And what?! Have her get completely bored and climb the school? Or have her go insane with thoughts about the disease? She needs to keep on training. Trust me, whatever we throw at the students is nothing for her. The first time I met her she took out an adult mutant in twenty seconds flat. I've never seen a bar with full grown men look so scared.'

'She is no-.'

'I'll do it,' Maze said.

'What?! But-!'

'You can't operate the room anyway, and Logan's right.' Then Maze turned to Logan: 'You give her a sword and we might actually be able to teach her something. And it's downright awesome to see how quickly that girl picks up on using a weapon.'

'Darren!' Tatiana protested against Maze's words, but the use of his real name made Maze only more determined to annoy Tatiana.

'Let's go, Logan.' He winked at Tatiana as they turned away and left the monarch of the infirmary behind to fume over their actions. 'I do hope you didn't want me to fight, did you?' Maze gave Logan a look.

'Of course not, she'd kill you in a second,' Logan said. 'Just need you to operate the room.'

'Right, you never got the hang of that,' Maze teased.

'Hey, you want a set of claws through your stomach.'

'No, thanks, one trip to the infirmary a day is enough. And besides, Alex wouldn't be able kill me in a second.'

'Really?'

'I think I would have eventually overtaken her. Held her of long enough and get her to tire, then she'd run out of energy for her powers and-.'

'You really think you'd last that long?' But their conversation was interrupted by them reaching the danger room. Alex stood in front of it. Her arms down her sides, feet together and eyes straight forward. Somewhat like a soldier. Both men had seen her like this before, she held this position around Maze. She respected the teacher and in the beginning she had shown that by acting like a soldier would to his commanding officer. Later she had dropped the act, but not before having explained that she had done it out of respect. Right now it showed them one thing. Alex felt sorry for what she had done to Maze.

'At ease, soldier.' Immediately Alex put her feet slightly apart and put her hands on her back before nodding at her teacher as a form of greeting. 'Relax, Alex. I'm just here to operate the room and I would not do that if I had not forgiven you for this morning.' Alex bit the inside of her cheek to not remark that that was most true. She had heard them coming through the corridor and had caught the last sentence of Maze. She was going to have to show him in the danger room that he would definitely not be able to beat her.

'Thank you, professor,' she replied.

'Would you be up for working with a sword today?' Maze asked. Now Alex couldn't help but let the light smile pull up the corners of her mouth slightly.

'Definitely.' They entered the danger room and Maze pulled out a sword from the rack which handed to Alex before moving to program the room.

'What's our plan, kid?' Logan asked.

'I'll take the left flank, you take the right?' Alex suggested.

'Sure,' with that Logan gave Maze the signal and around them the scenery changed. Gras grew beneath their feet and in a perfect circle around them trees sprouted tall, hiding a dark forest. Alex and Logan immediately turned back to back and took in their scenery before Maze injected the opponents. A stump and five metres to the left all the way to the grassless part on the right. That was her area.

'Here they come,' Logan said and Alex immediately looked up. Unlike Logan she couldn't see, hear or smell them yet, but her senses were now sharpened and the moment they appeared in her sight she was completely ready for them. She charged forward and pulled up her diamond skin and used her telekinesis to avoid getting hurt by their bullets. With one mighty slice of her sword she slit a throat and spun around to face her next opponent. Her sword sunk into the next man's chest and she used her speed to meet a third with a fist to the face at the edge of the forest. Her diamond skin cracked his skull and she quickly crossed to Logan's side of the field to deal with his fourth guy that was using his machine gun to slow Logan down. Her sword put an end to that before she confronted the last of the men on her side of the field by cutting of his arm and then hitting the back of the sword against his head, knocking him unconscious.

'Is that all you've got?!' She yelled at the virtual enemies.

'Wanna go at it alone, kid?' Logan asked.

'Might make it the slightest bit challenging,' Alex said bluntly and immediately Logan withdrew his claws to quickly get out of the site and give her the space she needed. Immediately a new wave of enemies hit and both Maze and Logan's eyes widened at her pure skill. She crossed the distance between her and her enemy within the blink of an eye. A plasma grenade was already forming in her free hand as she pulled back her sword form her enemy. She threw the blue pulsating bal of pure energy across the field and blew two enemies against the tree. Only just in time she threw herself flat on the ground to avoid the bullets from three enemies who started firing all at once. She turned invisible and only seconds later the first shooter feel to the ground, bleeding severely.

Immediately the two other shooters, reinforced by two others started firing at where she had just invisibly taken down one of the men. She wasn't fast enough to respond and a two bullets set themselves inside her left shoulder before she managed to pull up her diamond skin. The force of the four guns slowed her down and she could only move forward very slowly as she used all her telekinetic power to stop the bullets just enough. But then one of them had to reload and Alex immediately jumped into the gap to stab two of her assailants before slamming her fist on the skull of one of them. The one who was reloading was now running, but she sent a plasma ball at him before turning back to her normal skin. Immediately the gunshot wounds started healing themselves and Alex took some time to catch her breath before straightening her back and walking over to Logan.

'Damned guns, mutants are easier to deal with.' She picked the bullet from her shoulder and threw it on the ground.

'You wanna try against some mutants?'

'Hell, yeah.'

'You heard her, Maze,' Logan said. 'Give the kid some mutants.' Maze nodded unbelievingly and slowly before changing the settings of the room. Meanwhile Alex moved to the centre position. Maze reset the danger room and Alex sword became clean of the virtual blood that had been on it. She held up her sword, knowing she needed to be on edge right now, and tried to remember the stance Maze had taught her not too long ago.

'Feet a bit more apart, Alex, and remember to see your strokes through,' with that Maze switched on the program. The ground shook and Alex immediately turned her head in the direction of the source. A Ginormant, incredibly heavy and able to grow to the size of a skyscraper. She was too late in noticing the sprinter behind her and the knife scraped her shoulder as she spun around with equal speed in the same move swinging her blade and slashing her sword in the side of the incredibly fast faceless enemy. But it wasn't enough and she had to pull her dagger with her free hand to finish it off by stabbing the heart. Right, Maze had told her to see her strokes through. Next time it would be a clean cut, but more time to think she didn't have because a loud screeching noise blew her back. A Banshee, mutant with incredible voice power.

While the banshee drew another breath she turned invisible as she formed a plasma grenade. This created just enough confusion to give her the window of opportunity. With her left hand she took her dagger and held it out as she had noticed her enemy with claws approaching on her left. The plasma grenade was thrown and the banshee saw it too late. Guts splattered everywhere, but Alex turned to her new enemy as she removed her invisibility that would be useless against this feline feral who clearly had a vision ability above her invisibility level. With a dagger in her left hand and a sword now in her right they were somewhat on equal grounds, but the feral definitely had the advantage. That was until the ginormant appeared and roared. Alex had spotted him coming from the corner of her eye and had braced herself, but the feline was thrown off balance and one quick slash with her blade cut off his head.

Then it was on to the main brute force and her last enemy. The dagger would be useless so she put it away. The ginormant was growing. In this state she could not face him head on so she would have to force him back to a smaller size. She put her sword away and started sprinting. Trying to keep her breathing relatively even she zigzagged between his still growing feet. She ran up his ankle, jumped off and basically drove him mad as she zipped between his hands. He was too large to grab her and he realised it. Immediately he started shrinking. By the second it got harder to avoid him as he got faster and more nimble, but she was good, very good. She flickered between visible and invisible and once even had to throw a plasma grenade at the inside of his hand. Once he was twice her size he stopped and Alex grinned to herself. This she could do. Within the blink of an eye she had pulled her sword and sped towards him. She had not expected him to be most capable in hand to hand combat and was blown back, but not overtaken yet. Her sword was now in his hand and it looked like a dagger or maybe even a toothpick. It definitely wasn't much. Her dagger in her left hand she started running around trying to form a plan. She slid between his legs and spun around really quickly, but he had already blocked her with his sword. Fine, then she would do it another way. She ran back to his front and started running, dagger ahead. He could see her coming a mile ahead and prepared himself, but at the last second she jumped and put on her diamond skin. She was like a cannonball. The force with which she blew him back was enormous and she could hear several bones crack on the landing. She rolled on and was slightly dizzy as she got up, but she was completely alright.

'Did you know this?' Maze asked Logan, who slowly shook his head unable to speak. 'Kid's more than just a natural, she's a pro.'

'Been doing it for over five years,' Alex turned to them. 'I'd better be a pro.' She picked up the sword that was severely bent by her cannonball attack. 'Sorry about your sword.'

'Don't worry about it, I've got more,' Maze took the sword from her. 'You could rival him.' Maze nodded at Logan who was still incapable of doing much.

'Probably not, he's an indestructible and a feral in one, I'm running.' Then a grin formed on her face: 'But I take that as you admitting you can not beat me.'

'Fine, not when you use your powers. But you've got a lot to learn before you can wield your blade like me.'

'Wouldn't want it any other way, professor.'


	15. The New War

**The New War**

_With mutants and humans_

The others were clean, they didn't have the tumours. In some way it was a relief to Alex, but it also created the feeling of unfairness inside of her. Again it was her. Then again, for now the adults assumed that the others would develop them, Tank being the first. They did everything to try and prevent it and so Alex and Tank had to come to Tatiana every other day to have themselves monitored and examined. Alex was more annoyed by it than anything. She was trying very hard to forget about the disease and just continue. But that was proving very hard.

Alex' friends from the school now new she was deadly ill and they acted differently around her, forcibly nice and Alex hated it. Which was why she spent less and less time with them. The other second generations provided quite a bit of distraction fortunately. They were very new to the school and the five of them went exploring regularly. Louisa was too young to join in on their explorations, but they often played with her. Especially Jin enjoyed their pretend games, Alex could not appreciate those. So usually they played the pretend games in the time that Alex would be taught how to read and write by Jun Nae, Jin's mother.

Not just writing and reading, but Alex had been asked to make a list of things she couldn't do and would like to be able to learn. Frankly, there were a lot of things. Storm and Logan had had quite a good laugh when she had brought them the list. Things that no one would ever expect her not to know and she was completely oblivious on how to do them. Calculating and riding a bike were more normal things, but her list also included learning what the stuff was that they served for breakfast, because she might use it but she had no idea of the names, and what that fashion thing was that she always heard the girls talk about. Of course, part of their fun was that there was hardly a word she had spelled correctly and all had been writing in a handwriting that seemed to belong to a four year old.

But no matter how much they laughed over it, the list did help Alex in achieving a few things. Or at least making a start. She could now write all the letters in the alphabet and write most words. She could add and subtract and yesterday Kitty had taken her through the basics of multiplications. Alex was pretty proud of herself for managing and the teachers were most helpful. But that was not the only way she flourished.

During her medical examinations Tatiana had come to a few pretty good conclusions; For one the most important factor was the tumours didn't seem to grow under normal circumstances. They were triggered by something in particular and they had yet to find out what, but at least they were not growing at the moment. This was promising for Alex' survival chances and even complete recovery had become an option. The second thing was that all Alex vitals were currently at normal level for a girl her age. No shortage of vitamins or minerals anymore. This had also caused Alex to truly enter puberty, physically. Tatiana had measured an increase in height of nearly two centimetres in one month, which was awfully much. But the most positive thing of all was Alex' increase in weight. When she had first come to the manor she had been all skin and bones. Now, nearly four months later, she had actually muscles filling up a bit more and Alex was blooming.

It was during one of these medical examinations that she got the message to come up to Storm's office in ten minutes. Tatiana, of course, insisted she'd first finished the examination, but within five minutes Alex was allowed to go as nothing about her condition had changed. The healing powers were doing their job well and everything about her was normal, except for those bulges in her brain that were still causing mood swings.

With her shirt only halfway over her head Alex was already leaving the infirmary and had pressed the button of the elevator that took her to the ground floor. In the office of Storm it was quite crammed. Storm was sitting behind her desk and around her there was quite a large group of teachers. Logan was there, as were Maze, Bobby, Rogue, Kitty and later also Tatiana.

'Good, now we're all here. We'll start with a situation update before I share our new intel with you. Tatiana, your findings?' Storm started off.

'Physically, Alex is in perfect health. There is the tumours, but they seem to affect nothing but her emotions and powers. I would like to have them analysed before we even consider surgery, but then I'd have to take a sample, which is not really possible due to their location.'

'Do you know when this can happen?' Storm asked.

'Taking a sample could be done by a college friend of mine in about a week or two. The actual surgery depends on that, but for now I severely advise against it. Especially since we don't know how much of a problem her healing powers will be and if she needs to be given the cure beforehand and who is going to be able to perform it without being prejudiced against her as a mutant.'

'That's a shame,' Storm said. 'Because I have bad news. A source in the ministry tells us that there have been talks about anti second generation mutant measures. Interpol has apparently come knocking and asked assistance in apprehending a second generation mutant. How Interpol got that knowledge is still unknown, but the government is very serious about Alex. Because all second generations have been assembled they believe in wiping out all of us at once. Even dropping an atomic bomb on the school has been considered by the anti-mutant party.'

'Are they insane?' Alex exclaimed.

'Of course they are,' Maze said. 'But we've always known that.'

'The point is that the government is now aware of Alex and is using her as an opportunity to stress the danger of mutants. For now they have decided that more research is needed and almost everyone agrees that this research needs to be conducted on Alex. Therefore they are working on getting forces ready to bring you in for examination.'

'But, they can't do that!' Alex said. 'I'm also a human, I'm not one of their blasted guinea pigs!'

'They justify it by calling you a terrorist,' Storm explained. 'That means you lose your human rights. There is nothing we can do to prevent their actions.' Alex bit her tongue to prevent herself from cursing the government with a vocabulary that was far too colourful for a girl her age.

'What are we going to do?' Logan asked.

'For now there is not much we can do, but wait,' Rogue said. 'They will sent people to the mansion and then we'll have to fight them of, but we can't take any preventive action.'

'So you mean we're just going to be sitting ducks here?' Maze said.

'What else can we do?' Storm said.

'Wait, where's Alex?' Tatiana suddenly noticed. All looked around frantically, but Alex was gone.

'You have got to be kidding me!' Maze exclaimed. 'When is she going to stop running away?!' Immediately a search party was started to find her. The grounds and the school were searched. All her regular hiding spots were checked, all nooks and crannies were cleared. Alex was gone, and so was her car. Upon closer inspection of her room/closet Logan could tell them Alex' emergency backpack was also gone. She had gone off.

'Anyone found her?' Rogue asked as she joined the group in front of Alex' room.

'Nothing,' Maze concluded. 'She's gone on the run again.'

'I don't understand,' Rogue said to herself. 'She seemed happy here, why would she want to leave?'

'She didn't want to,' Logan sighed. 'She felt she had to.'

'What do you mean?' Tatiana asked.

'Alex feels responsible for this. She knows she is going to die and still she lures an army to the school that might actually throw a bomb on the school. She's run away to make sure the army will come for her and kill her, instead of attacking here,' Logan grumbled. 'The damn kid is trying to protect us.'

'She is sacrificing herself?!' Tatiana exclaimed. 'We have to go after her! She can't do this to herself. Logan, you have to find her.'

'Yes, Logan, go after her! You can convince her to come back. You did the same with me,' Rogue said.

'That's a different story,' Logan said. 'Alex is an expert at being on the run. If she doesn't want me to find her, she'll make sure I wont find her. I can't find her. None of us can.' Silence fell among them.

'There must be something we can do,' Bobby said. Logan shrugged and looked at Maze who had been trying to figure out what she had taken.

'The car is gone, she's taken one of my swords, her emergency backpack, but that is it. She's left all her clothes, thrown out the tent, electronic equipment, everything,' Maze looked at all of them. 'She's not planning on being found, but she might just come back.'

'Or she didn't want the additional baggage,' Logan said. 'We're not going to achieve anything with this.' On that they all agreed. They needed a plan. But with every second they wasted, Alex was travelling further away. Perfectly within the speed limit to stay hidden, but fast enough to get far away before it got dark. Following her rules of staying out of sight and without giving anyone a chance to follow her.

Work at the school called them back to the order of the day. Classes had to be taught, food had to be prepared and the children had to be entertained. It was keeping them busy, but not fully distracted. It happened more often that a student ran away from the school, but usually they would know where the student in question had gone or that they would return soon. After all, every single student in the school had come on their own account, seeking refuge from the world, their family or the prejudices. All students had been on the run, but only for a short while. Alex was the only one who was actually not here to seek refuge. She had come to find respite and answers. Alex would never be able to stay in one place as long as people were after her. They had no idea if she would ever return.

But they couldn't stop just for her. Everything had to continue. They had a responsibility towards the other students and Alex already demanded too much of their attention. Without their high maintenance student it seemed more normal than ever. They could use electrical appliances without her asking questions, they didn't have to remind her of every day things, they didn't have to set up additional classes for her. It was somewhat peaceful. Or it would have been peaceful if they weren't so incredibly worried about her.

Alex stood out so much that she was missed straight away. Before, when she had gone around the world with Logan, the teachers had actually been able to provide an answer. Alex was on a mission with professor Logan. She had been a hero. It had been no mystery that she had been different. The day that they had brought in Tank she hadn't been the only one that was different anymore, but she still stood out more. Whereas Tank missed a few bits and pieces, Alex missed complete parts. With the arrival of the other group, the students had gotten used to the generation of more power, younger mutants.

But the problem remained. Alex stood out and therefore was missed. They asked if Alex was on a mission. They asked why there was no teacher with her. They asked when she would be back. They asked if she had left to catch up on studies. They asked if she had left to find more mutants like her. They asked why she was not there, and none of the teachers could give a positive answer to any of these questions. Alex had ran off and they didn't know when she'd come back. They asked why she had ran off, but they didn't know.

And the very next morning Nightwalker came in with horrifying news. The army was drawing closer. Mutants from the north, the Party for Mutant Domination and the Mutant Liberation Force had teamed up to assure their victory this time. From the south east there were the humans. Army, marines, secret service, every agency and attack force was represented amongst the vast ranks. Global anti-terrorism agencies, secret services, intelligence agencies and the national government had brought together a full scale army.

War had begun again.

'Another,' Alex slammed the beer on the bar and turned her head to the bartender who looked at her sceptically. What was it with bartenders and judging her. They were supposed to just want to sell. Alex had money this time, so he ought not to complain about anything but the fact that his bar was next to a junkyard.

'You seem a little tipsy…' the bartender trailed off. He was still scared of her. That was a good thing. He had started with asking her age and not having been in the mood to lie she had told him she was thirteen years old before threatening to cut of a rather important part to his manliness if he didn't give her the drinks straight away. After that he had not advised against doing something anymore, but unfortunately hadn't shut him up entirely.

'I'm not drunk enough yet, give me another. To do this I need a lot more than three bottles.'

'What exactly are you planning?' The bartender asked as he opened a new bottle and put it in front of her.

Alex took the bottle in her hand before turning to look up at him: 'I'm going to attract several government agencies, who want me arrested and experimented on, and multiple packs of mutants, who want to capture and torture me for information, to my location. But they can't know it's intentional, so when they come and ask you don't tell them a thing about my plans. ' She put the bottle at her lips and downed half the bottle in one go.

'That sounds dangerous.'

'It's suicidal,' Alex said. 'Which is why I need the booze.' From her backpack she pulled a hundred dollar bill and handed it to the bartender. 'I don't need this anymore, so I'd best thank you for your hospitality. Not many people would host a proclaimed terrorist.' Then she finished her bottle as the bartender stared at her unable to respond. Alex hopped off the stool and noticed she was a bit wobbly on her legs. Great, no chance to get cold feet she was going to do this.

Outside she immediately turned to the junkyard and slipped through the broken fence and started walking around until she was sure she was far enough away from everything. There was a container with glass nearby and Alex pulled a jar from it. Her hand over the open topside she drew a deep breath and started forming a plasma grenade. It grew inside the confinement of the glass jar. With a bit of effort and quick fingers Alex managed to get the lid on.

The blue plasma pulsated in the jar. Deadly light. It would be powerful enough, it had to be. She took one last look at the jar and then threw it. It sailed through the air with a nice curve before closing in on the ground. There was hardly any shattering. As the first crack came in the glass the plasma reacted with the air. Flames engulfed and the blast rose high in to the sky as Alex was thrown back against a pile of tires. Her ears were ringing so loudly she doubted she had even heard the enormous explosion that had just taken place. There were pieces of glass stuck in her skin and she was bleeding from it.

She purposefully didn't remove the glass as she got up and walked over to where she had put down her backpack. Her car was hidden amongst the other cars in a nearby parking lot. After she had hoisted the backpack on her back she pulled the glass from her hand, leg and foot and threw it on the ground. From there on her footsteps would be heavy enough due to the additional weight of the backpack. She walked over to the road and crossed it. On the other side she cleared the barbed wire fence to the forest, but not without leaving behind a piece of fabric of her vest. Then she threw another plasma bomb a few metres to her right before picking up the pace and making a beeline into the forest.

And her actions were noticed. The first people who got hold of her trail were the local news people, immediately followed by nation wide news agencies. The explosion at the junkyard, and the story of the bartender about a thirteen year old girl threatening him to give her beer before leaving shortly before the explosions were hugely interesting. It was grand news as Dutch authorities recognised the feed and requested she'd be handed over to them due to charges of terrorism.

'This girl, only known as "Lex", is said to be using explosives for fun and is to be considered armed and dangerous. The department of defence is taking actions against the reign of this teenage terrorist,' teachers were dragged over to the television when students had come across the news by accident. It was so very clear that this was Alex. It couldn't be anybody else. Kitty was the first to have gotten the news and after having found Maze they went over to Storm, who had just been talking about the military moving in on their position last night. Belamie was sent out to take a look at the camps of the mutants and the army, but both were packing up fast. The mutants had sent a few ahead, but the military was already nearly left already.

'We need to go there too,' Logan said.

'Where, Logan?' Storm said. 'All we know is that she set off an explosion in a junkyard nearby, there's no guarantee she's still there.' But that that moment Taylor popped into the room to alert the staff there was more news. Another explosion, a huge one in a forest, and Steven had the coordinates. There was no stopping Logan anymore and the car was prepared to have Logan, Bobby, Maze and Kitty go after Alex.

But Alex had already been found by the mutants. Four teleporters and three sprinters to be exact. She was trying her hardest to keep up. The good thing about teleporters was that if you were where they landed, they just died. That had been the end of two teleporters already, the other two were a bit better at what they were doing. A swing of her sword cut off one of the sprinters legs as the pure speed sent Alex rolling over the ground. She was sure she had scratches and bruises all over her body, but she had to live with them if she didn't want to fall into the hands of the mutants.

As much as she hated being experimented on the mutants might just kill her straight away and that was something the humans definitely wouldn't do. She put up her diamond skin to have the knife one of the sprinters tried to stab in her back, shatter upon impact. In her right palm she formed a tiny plasma grenade and slammed her hand against the sprinter's skull. Two down. One more sprinter and two more teleporters left. Alex had to defend left and right with her sword, but got no real angle to fight any of them as they seemed to have realised that team effort worked in their advantage.

Alex had to do something. Anything at all to get them off their momentum, for she wasn't going to be able to keep this up very long. And then she realised it. She pulled up diamond skin and invisibility. They knew where she was so the two teleporters continued with their jump. Alex swung her sword around and slashed open one's stomach. On her back she felt one dagger shatter as her invisibility broke, but it was too late for the teleporter who had landed right in her sword. Alex pulled the blade from the teleporters chest and picked up speed to confront her final enemy; the sprinter.

Sword tightly in her hand she ran around the clearing she had created with her bomb. She now saw the army pulling up through the trees, they were holding back for now as the two mutants with speed ability confronted each other. The man was definitely faster and more skilled with a sword than Alex, but Alex had her flexibility and healing abilities which brought them to level ground. The strokes from her opponents sword were so fast they were like flashes. Unstoppable, unpredictable and unmanageable. Alex was fighting to tough an opponent on every level of skill. She could never match this expert swordsman, so she had to do something unexpected.

Instead of blocking a thrust aimed straight at her chest she withdrew her sword. Her brain numbed the pain in her chest as she forced her swing down to chop off the man's head. With shaking hands she drew the sword from her midriff, but she knew what was happening behind her back. The knout came onto her skull with more force than she had expected and she felt something besides the painful sensation. It was peculiar, but her attention was drawn away from that at what she saw. Her four teachers, behind the line of the forest, watching as she passed out and crumbled to the floor.

It took all three of the others to hold back Logan before he went on to attack the entire army that they had driven around to get there. He had to watch as they dragged Alex off the field. Her backpack and sword were retrieved, and the bodies of the seven other mutants were loaded in a truck before all of them vanished to god knows where their facility was. Logan knew he had to accept this, but that didn't mean he liked it. Kitty had tears in her eyes as she watched them pick up Alex' limp body like a bag of sand and when the trucks started driving away the tears finally started rolling and sobs escaped her throat. Maze was gritting his teeth to not have to cry himself as he wrapped an arm around Kitty to offer her some comfort.

They walked back to the car without any of them saying a word. Bobby sat stiffly behind the wheel and all of them noticed how the temperature was slowly dropping, but nobody mentioned it because no one really cared. The despondent mood was obvious as soon as they got out of the car near the mansion.

'What happened?' Rogue asked.

'They took her,' Bobby said. Rogue gasped and now also had tears forming. Logan left Bobby with Rogue, and Kitty and Maze together and went inside to find something to occupy his mind. Unfortunately that didn't seem to happen as apparently all of the mansion knew about Alex, but not about what had happened. Students kept on coming to ask if they had found her, where she was. Every time they asked Logan got angrier and he snapped at some point.

He couldn't do this again. Not anymore. With Jean he had only barely made it out, but not again. He couldn't keep up the façade of being strong. He couldn't be their beam of support. Alex, his daughter, had been taken by the government, and the chances of him ever getting her back were extremely slim. He didn't doubt she was still alive. Alex was smart, fast and she knew how to fight. She could hold her own against a few bullets and beatings. But escaping was a different story.

Alex was a lot like him, everyone knew that, but not enough. Alex was thirteen years old and tired of running. She might be strong, but she was not completely indestructible. She might get hurt, she might give up, he might lose her forever. He had all eternity, but she didn't, not anymore. He would have to find her. He closed the door to his room and started grabbing his stuff in his duffel bag. It wasn't much, but enough. He couldn't take everything on his motorcycle, but he didn't need to.

Once everything was packed he headed down to the garage. His leather jacket he hadn't worn in ages, but it felt right at the moment. He threw the cover off his motorcycle and without caring where it landed he got on the motorcycle. This was it. He was not going to turn back anymore. The engine roared through the garage as Logan opened the door. He was going to find her, no matter how long it took. He would find her and he would bring her home.

From her office Storm watched him leave with a weary expression on her face. She had known that he would leave to find her. As soon as she had seen them return she had known Logan would need to leave. He needed to find her to find peace in himself. She knew he hadn't yet fully accepted his desire to have a family, but she knew better. It was the same reason he had drawn to Rogue just as much as she had drawn to him. He wasn't a role model father figure, but he cared a lot and for some that was enough.

However, Rogue had grown up, and like every parent he had needed to let her go the moment she had married Bobby. Oh, no, Storm hadn't missed Logan's loneliness after that. Despite the fact that Rogue had done her own thing even before that, Logan had still had a certain sense of closeness that had been lost in that moment when Bobby and Rogue had sealed their marriage with a kiss. It may have been partially because he realised he couldn't possibly have something as lasting as what they had.

Storm understood that sentiment. She herself loved a man who could not stay with her. He could not be caged, and she could not leave the mansion. Many times she had asked him to come to live with her at the mansion, teach the children German, but it had always been in vain. He was too shy, too unsure of himself. He feared he would scare the children, he didn't know if he could be a teacher, and his services were needed elsewhere. And so she had accepted that Kurt and herself could never be so close. Still he came into her room at night, and she found him in the city when they needed to see each other. But it was always so far away.

Logan had found a new family though. A lasting one for him. One he might just not outlive. Alex, after all, was nearly as indestructible as he was. He had gotten up his hopes, he'd had them crushed, he had fought and eventually Alex had ended it all for both of them by turning herself in. Logan had lost his daughter again, but this time not to another man who cared for her. He had lost her to an army of ill-willed men. And so Storm understood his need to go into the world to search for her and she let him go.

Eventually he would return. She didn't know when, she didn't know if she would still be around at that time, or if she would have passed the baton to Kitty already. But for now he would just run and she would pray the way Kurt had thought her for him to come back home. Like she would for a soldier having gone into battle.

'Ororo?' Kitty was the only one who called her by that name. Storm turned around and sent the younger woman a warm smile.

'Kitty, are you alright?' Kitty was about to reply, but as soon as she opened her mouth the tears started forming again and all she could do was shake her head. Storm wrapped Kitty in an embrace and held her tightly as she cried.

'They're going to come back. I know it.'

'How can you be so sure?' Kitty sniffed.

'Because they have all of eternity. Eventually Logan is going to find her and bring her home. You and I might not be around anymore at that time, but I'm certain he'll bring her back here. Maybe your children will get to meet her then.'

'My children?' Kitty asked confusedly.

'My dear, I know everything that goes on in this school. Don't tell me that you were trying to keep your relationship with Maze from me.' At this Kitty could help but chuckle lightly as Storm continued. 'If she gets back to meet your children then there will have been a lot of technological developments and they will have to explain it to her. Maybe she can teach them Japanese then, or how to use a sword, but I think Maze will want to teach them that himself, don't you think?'

Kitty nodded: 'If I have children with Maze, they'll be like her. They'll have amazing powers and she'll have to learn them how to control them, because she is a pioneer in that area. I think she'll be adored.'

'I think so too,' Storm said. 'So don't worry about them now. They'll come back for sure, maybe even sooner than we think, maybe later. Only time will tell us. For now it is important for us to show everyone in the school that this setback is not going to damage the safety of the school and the competence of it's teachers.'

Kitty nodded again: 'I'll start making preparations for dinner and we'll continue with the planned movie night, although I think it would be wise to change one of the movies, which will remind them of what happened today.'

'That is good, Kitty. I'll leave it to you.' And so normalcy returned to the X-mansion. But one student was not at dinner, nor at the movie night. Danny sat in the corner of his room, curled up to a ball. He was emitting light and it projected onto the blank wall in front of him.

Name: Alexandra "Lex" Darvis / Fox

Age: 13

Status: imprisoned terrorist

Nobody heard the alarm but him. The red warning light was nothing unusual for Danny's room. But this time, Danny cared. He couldn't turn his eyes away from the screen he had projected, but the real message was inside his head. It screamed at him as he tried to block it out and it didn't stop. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't turn it off. He had never been able to control his powers. His body was always restricting him.

And now his powers were telling him one thing: Warning, suicidal behaviour detected.

Fox wasn't planning on getting out. She wanted to die there, for the sake of all of them.


	16. Loneliness

**Loneliness**

_Without many people_

'Doko,' Alex blinked against the bright light, 'desu ka?' Her head hurt too much for her to focus on the sudden increase of activity around her or to take in her surroundings. In the short glance she had thrown at the room it seemed to be a fusion between an infirmary and a glass prison. There were people watching her all around and their stampede upon her awakening was excessively bothersome. It was good there were very few ways to have her feel embarrassed or she would have tried to hide from the peering eyes pointed at her body that was only clad in a shirt and underpants. The clothes weren't even hers, but the pain on the back of her head prevented her from discovering that.

That pain was from the blow. It was strange she still felt it, but bruises often healed more difficultly than cuts and scrapes so she assumed the back of her head would be nearly blue, but that was the least of her worries. It was the memory attached to that blow. That was not how she had wanted to remember Logan. She hadn't wanted him to be there. None of the teachers were supposed to have been there. Logan's face… It wasn't encouraging at all.

She had known she would have to do this. In order to figure it all out she would have to turn herself in and be submitted to experiments to eventually die or be killed. There was no other option. Eventually she would die anyway. She had known it all along. She just didn't… She didn't want the others to see her cry anymore. She wanted them to remember her as the strong and brave girl she usually was. They shouldn't have to watch her hide in the corner and cover her ears to not hear the roars of war over her. She couldn't cover her eyes and pretend she wasn't part of this because she was at the very core. She wasn't going to show them tears anymore. This was her taking her responsibility, her making the hard choice and doing what was right.

But the truth was, she was scared. She was only a teenager after all. She had lost enough in her life. All she had to comfort her at this moment were the very few good memories she had. Still, she could never get the image of her father slipping from this world out of her mind. She couldn't forget the tears her new friends had shed, the pain she had put them through. And now even Logan. He had always been her pillar of support. But his face…

Suddenly she was roughly woken from her reverie from a man grabbing her chin and forcing her to face him. He was flanked by two men with large guns. He was speaking fast Japanese, but she didn't understand why. Wait, she had spoken Japanese right when she had woken up. She didn't know why she had spoken Japanese, it had rolled off her tongue passively. She hadn't even wanted to ask where she was, because she didn't care. But her mind was befuddled and a headache was keeping her from thinking clearly at the moment and she had difficulty understanding what he was saying.

She wondered what had happened to her sword. Well Maze's sword. She wanted to return it, but she wasn't sure if she ever would get the chance to do so. Which was why she had taken the sword in the first place. She hadn't wanted her daggers to be lost to her enemies. After all, they were the last thing of her dad. The car was beginning to lose his smell, still it was her comforting little place, aside from the broom cupboard. It now smelled like cheap cigars, dirt, blood, a hint of beer, but mostly Logan.

Logan. His face right before she had blacked out. He had looked like he had wanted to slaughter the entire army by himself, just to rescue her. For a moment she doubted her decision to go this alone, but then she gritted her teeth knowing this was the only way to protect everyone. Logan could fend for himself, but she didn't want to think about her friends at the mansion. Her first friends, the other second generations and Danny weren't trained enough to survive it all. Even Jin, who could redo almost everything. Could not travel back in time once she was dead.

A slap in her face brought her back violently and the man yelled at her in Japanese. It took her a moment to translate exactly what he was saying, but it was a downright unpleasant way to tell her to snap out of it and tell them her secrets.

'I was hoping you'd know,' she replied. This brought her another slap in the face and this got Alex irritated. She didn't like to be treated this way. Just because she had let herself be taken in, didn't mean she would let herself be treated like that.

'Yamete!' she snapped. This man didn't seem to have English as a first language and had not recognised her previous comment as such, judging by his answer. 'Hottoite! Find someone who does speak English!' This of course aggravated this man even more, but this time Alex wasn't going to let herself be pushed around anymore and she didn't just block his slap, but pulled up her diamond skin from her elbow to her fingers. He clearly wasn't gifted for she immediately drew blood and he stepped back. Something hit her and almost immediately she was knocked out again.

When she woke up the second time another man was standing in front of her. The world was still a bit blurry, but she immediately noticed her hands were tied to the chair with leather bands.

'Are you awake?' Alex nodded slowly as her head still hurt and she wasn't completely sure of her surroundings. 'Good, then tell us how you got your powers while you're not supposed to have them according to our research.'

'I don't know,' Alex said softly. Blinking helped clear up her vision.

'There is no point in resisting. We can keep you here as long as we want, no one is going to come in to rescue you and we won't let you escape. Tell us what you know.'

'I don't know anything,' she finally found some force to put in her voice, but it still wasn't much.

'Give us some information or we will hurt you,' he came close to her face and Alex was now boiling with anger.

'I said I don't know!' her diamond skin made the leather bands snap like elastics and she got out of the chair. Something hit her skin, but it bounced off straight away. The two body guards of the man in the room opened fire. They were darts, slow enough to not even damage her layer of protection. Soon they were out of darts and the fear started to appear on their faces.

'I don't know how I got them, but I do know how to use them,' Alex threatened as she took a step closer. 'Which is clearly more than you know. Don't be naïve and think you can take me on that easily. As if on a cue an army of armed men came rushing into the room and Alex was surrounded within seconds.

'Don't be so naïve to think that we won't be able to overpower you,' the man said to her. 'But if you want to play it this way.' Fire was opened and within seconds Alex felt her diamond skin drop. She was out like a light.

She felt burns form on her legs and heels the moment she woke up. Only a second, just enough to register she was being dragged through a concrete corridor, then she heard another shot fired and everything went black.

The last few words of a conversation immediately pierced her ears when she woke up. They seemed to be complaining about the sedative wearing off so easily, but then someone pointed at Alex already having woken up and their attention was diverted to the girl who was once again strapped in a chair.

'You're giving us a pretty hard time.'

'Even when I'm knocked out I'm a handful. It's a gift,' she spit back.

'Well not for long anymore,' a cart was brought in by an expressionless assistant and Alex didn't even need to look at what was on it to know what they were going to do. 'I told you I would hurt you,' he said threateningly as he turned to grab a syringe.

'I wouldn't use that if I were you,' Alex replied.

'And why not?' he replied maliciously. 'How do you even know what's in here?'

'It's the cure isn't it? So I can't pull up my diamond skin? Trust me, I can't pull it up anyway. After it's been broken it takes a while to recover, and torture will keep me exhausted. It will be days before that thing is back. Not using the cure means that I'll have my healing powers and you can take your torture further than you could have ever imagined.'

'What do you mean?' He was very visibly trying to sound disinterested and irritated, but she had caught his attention with this comment.

'I have level four healing powers, rare amongst mutants. It means I can die, and come back to life. The cure would make sure you have to be careful not to kill me since a corpse is not nearly as useful as a living mutant. Don't worry about pain, it won't change anything. I have no answers so I won't give them, but I'll be in a lot of pain.'

'Tell me then, how old are you that you're not even the littlest bit afraid of torture?'

'I'm thirteen, and I'm not afraid since I can assure you I've been through worse,' Alex said.

'I wouldn't be so sure about that,' the man turned away to put the syringe back on the cart. 'Damon, let's begin.' It started with scalpels, then electrical shocks. Alex screamed, but she had nothing to give them, and so it continued. They realised that Alex had not reached her breaking point. There was no time for traditional slow torture methods and so they would have to fall back on Alex' own plan. Methods that were usually lethal to humans, but not to her. They cut off patches of skin, they made such great cuts in her body that she nearly bled out. Alex couldn't do anything but cry and scream in pain. She tried to stay in a happy place, but there was nowhere left for her to turn.

Minutes turned to hours of torture and they were not giving up. Alex was exhausted. She was at and beyond her limits. The pain was not even the worst, it was just the exhaustion. What she had been put through in Russia and ever since then had been so much worse than what these people tried. Torture was definitely not a skill for Americans, and somewhere Alex was very happy about that. But unfortunately this was also something they had realised and they were currently going over plans to get her to crack. Alex felt broken already, but she knew she wasn't. She could have lasted through all of this with secrets.

'You're one tough girl, I must give you that, Lex.'

'Don't call me that,' Alex turned her face up to meet the eyes of her torturer. 'Just one person in the world gets to call me that, and that's my dad.'

'See, now we're getting somewhere,' the man said. 'Then what do I call you?'

'Alexandra Darvis is my name, use it.' Then she turned away again, but he grabbed her chin again and forced her to face him.

'Well then, Miss Darvis. You see this needle?' He held up a very long thin needle. 'I'm going to put this straight through your eye if you don't give me the information I want.'

'Just do it already,' Alex muttered in reply. 'I have no information and you are going to do it anyway.' And as she had told him to he brought the tip of the needle to right above her left eye. Brave as those words may have sounded, Alex was scared. She was beyond scared, she was terrified. But she was so exhausted, and in those few moments they had given her she had pictured so much worse methods… She was going to die anyway and she had no energy to resist. She could hardly keep her eyes open from sleep already, so best look straight at what was happening. This however, started to bother the torturer and he moved away. Alex released a breath in relief, but made sure he didn't notice.

She was so tired. Damon the assistant and the torturer started talking, but she only caught snippets of their conversation. She was basically left alone to her thoughts and it hurt more than the torture. Her mind was playing tricks on her, it had to be. As if she hadn't gone through enough. This had to come from her mind because the man that stood there near the door could not be real. He was wearing the military uniform he had also worn at his wedding. She had seen the picture a thousand times, but the uniform had been lost the moment they had started running.

'Dad?'

'Hey, Lexa.' Her breath got stuck in her throat as a tear escaped her eye.

'Dad, I'm so sorry. I was so tired and-,' but the appearance of a second figure made her stop halfway through the sentence.

'It's alright, Alexandra. We're so proud of how well you've done.'

'Mom?' Had Alex had any energy left she would have cried.

'Oh, sweetheart, I've missed you.'

'Mom, please don't go. Dad, don't leave me alone.'

'We won't, Lexa,' her father spoke in that same tone she remembered.

'Am I dying?'

'You've given up already?'

'Logan?' this confused Alex. 'How are you-,' but Logan stopped her.

'This isn't real, kid. You're so damn tired and damaged your mind started messing with you. They're forgetting you're thirteen and if they go on any bit longer they'll drive you insane. You're not dying, so make sure you live.'

'But I don't want this anymore,' Alex spoke barely above a whisper. 'I can't take it anymore.'

'And leave Logan alone?' her mother asked. 'Would you really want that?'

'You can join us,' her father said. 'But that would mean you would leave Logan all alone.'

'He has already lost me,' Alex said.

'Are you kidding me, I'm already forcing everyone to come up with a plan to rescue you, kiddo. You grew on me and even though I'm terrible at expressing it to most people, you know that I care about you more than anyone else at the moment. Of course in real life I wouldn't be this honest either, but since the start you used me as a pillar of support so I have to voice what is important to you.'

'I can't take this anymore,' Alex said.

'Yes, you can, Lexa. We've gone over this so many times since we were in Russia. You're strong and you can do anything. You went beyond all my expectations and you did so well on your own,' everything was exactly the way she remembered it. The light in his eyes and when he spoke she could even smell him. She remembered everything, every tiny little detail and she saw it on him. This was really her father speaking to her. She just knew it. And her mother. Ever bright like an angel. Her wings large and white were spread because that was more comfortable, that was what she had always said. Alex remembered.

'I've always known you were special. Even though I wasn't around, I've seen how good you were. Those first weeks in which you mastered your speed. You drove me mad, but I was so proud of you. You can do this, Alexandra.'

'I miss you.'

'And we miss you too,' her father said.

'But so do I,' Logan suddenly spoke up again. 'I need you to come home again, Lex. Your parents have passed on, but you and I, we weren't build to leave this world. We weren't meant to give up. I would break if you gave up now. You know how I was when you were ill. So, don't give up, okay?'

'Listen to him, Lexa,' her father's smile was too familiar. 'We may miss you, but we're no longer your only parents. We're at peace now and we have each other. We can wait. Even if it is all of eternity.'

'And if you need us, we'll always be with you. Even though you don't like those sentimental things.'

'Please, don't go.'

'We have to, sweetheart. He's coming back.'

'Don't give up, kid.'

'Be strong.'

'No, dad! Mom! Dad!' But her face was roughly turned away from those who were most important to her.

'Hey, Darvis, stay with us. Who were you talking to?'

'Figments of my imagination,' Alex muttered more to herself than to the interrogator. 'They're not real. They can't be. They can't be.' Darkness was looming and she was shaken back into the present, but she was too far gone. She was exhausted. They spun around in her head and then it all turned black again.

Logan jolted awake. He had heard something different from the noises he would associate with cheap motels. The sounds of affairs, of drunks, of people sleeping, he knew those sounds and these were different. It was a hushed conversation and it was close. Right outside his door. Logan got out of bed and quietly made his way over to the door so he could listen in on what they were saying. They were talking about him.

'I'm not sure. He doesn't look like he can afford to stay here, but he also causes no trouble which is actually quite nice for once. Besides, I think he's a mutant.'

'What does that have to do with it? He hasn't paid you so we can call the police.'

'And what if we're wrong and he will pay when he leaves?'

'Then we just apologise. Listen, this guy is weird, he is upsetting the other guests with his behaviour. Which means you have grounds to have him removed.'

'He's just looking for that girl, there's nothing wrong with that.'

'I don't trust that either. The girl doesn't look like him at all, where is the mother and is he even the father or just a pervert? If he stays here for much longer you'll have other guests running away, I can tell.'

'I can't really thrown him out either.' This was the moment Logan decided to step in. He opened the door and the two men standing outside jumped at his sudden appearance.

'If you want me gone I'll be out in the morning. I need to get moving again anyway. I can come by tomorrow to pay you or I could do that right now, whatever you want. Just stop talking about Alex. She is not my real daughter, but I take care of her, or used to before she was snatched up.'

'Oh dear,' the shorter one of the two bald men spoke. 'That's terrible. What happened?'

'She's been taken by government agencies who think she is a mutant terrorist. Which she is not.'

'How old is she?' the taller one asked.

'Thirteen.'

'Would she by any chance have been involved in the enormous commotion around that terrorist called "Lex"?' the shorter one asked.

'She was the centre of it.'

'Are you sure she wasn't dangerous?'

'She just lost control of her powers. It happens sometimes. Unfortunately for her that means she blows up. Which is why I need to find her. She gets ill again and there's no telling what she'll do.'

'Ben, we have to help him,' the shorter man turned to the taller one.

'You're right, Frank. We'll help you. You can stay here for as long as you want and we'll see what strings we can pull. What's your name?'

'Logan. And thank you.' He was going to need all the help he could get. He had to get to Alex. He didn't know how much she needed him at that moment. She woke up with her cheeks wet from tears. She was lying on a rough, dirty and cold concrete floor. She couldn't remember her dreams, but she knew exactly what they must have been about. Yesterday had left her with more questions than answers. She had no idea what these people knew, or how far they were willing to go to get information from her.

Slowly she got up to a sitting position and rested her back against the wall, her face turned towards the reinforced door. This cell seemed stronger than the nuclear bunker she had blown up nearly a month ago. She didn't even want to try. She didn't want to have to go through more torture. How could she possibly want that anyway. She was thirteen, why hadn't they realised that if she had any answers she would give them through torture, that she would have already given them. Why weren't they starting their experiments? Why did they have to go to such lengths to make her feel so incredibly terrible. Had they just started experiments she would almost have fully cooperated. She also wanted answers, but not this way.

She had known it was a suicide mission, and that once they were done with her they would kill her, but before that she wanted the answers. That was the only reason she hadn't turned herself into the mutants. Either they would keep her alive and make her fight for them, or they would kill her before she knew any bit more about herself. No, this had been the only justifiable option at the time. Still, she was having second thoughts. She was worn out by the torture, and the loneliness was already getting to her. She was scared and she wished Logan was there to comfort her. But he wasn't, he was far away. And it was by far not over for her.

Then she heard rattling outside the door and the door was partially opened to reveal a female face looking at her through bulletproof glass. She looked at Alex questioningly as if trying to get her head around what she was seeing at the moment. She was wearing some sort of white band in her blond hair, but Alex couldn't place it. For now Alex decided to just call her the Woman.

'Are you the terrorist?' the Woman suddenly spoke before looking around to see if no one else was there. Alex slowly nodded her head in response. She was still too tired to do much more.

'But you're just a kid,' she was most confused.

'They call me a terrorist nevertheless. I don't understand why, I've only ever acted in self defence.'

'Self defence?'

'You wouldn't understand,' Alex sighed. 'None of you seem to know what you put me through already.' With that she laid down on the concrete again. Her head was hurting again. Even though all her wounds and bruises had healed, the headache didn't seem to ever lessen. Instead it only got worse. She didn't understand and that bothered. Her. But she was tired. She was so tired.


	17. Sanity

**Sanity**

_With Alexandra Darvis, age 5_

Alex was woken up by the rattling of the door again, but this time by the time she had opened her eyes the door was completely open. The Woman closed the door quickly behind her, but Alex caught a glimpse of the three guards outside. The Woman had a plate of food in one hand and a cure gun in the other. She was wearing some weird black and white dress that showed a lot of cleavage. Alex suspected it must be a uniform of some sort, but she couldn't see the practical use of it, it had far too many frills for that.

'You must be hungry.' Alex slowly got into a sitting position. She was slightly dizzy and a bit nauseous. She stared a bit suspiciously at the food. They could have put anything in it and the nausea was not good for her appetite. Besides, she could do without food for a good while longer. However, it was not a good idea to show them, even if this woman didn't seem to have a hostile bone in her body upon first glance. So Alex pulled the plate and spoon towards her. Some mashed potatoes with gravy and heavily overcooked vegetables. She took a spoonful and examined it carefully. It didn't look or smell suspiciously, just plain disgusting.

Maybe they had put a truth serum in it. She had read about that in her science fiction book. It was supposed to be odourless and colourless. She was not going to eat this for far too many reasons so she dropped the food on the ground, put the spoon down and started writing in the food with her finger. She wanted to be able to write. She found the "e" very difficult and kept on writing the "d" the wrong way around. "q", "p", "d", "b", those were very confusing.

'What are you doing?' the Woman asked. 'Are you not hungry?'

'I'm practising my writing,' Alex replied, avoiding the question and without looking up. 'It's not a good idea to eat before I'm tortured again.' She leant back to admire her own handywork of writing her name before she finally turned to look at the Woman: 'Because you're going to do that again, aren't you? No matter what I say you'll never believe that I don't know anything.'

'They were quite frustrated that you didn't break yesterday.'

'Good for them,' Alex said dryly as she put some more food on the ground and started on the words that Jun Nae had taught her. She found some of the sounds hard to remember. The "c" and "k" were both possible for cat, but it was supposed to be a c or she would have the Dutch word according to Chloë. The Woman was still watching her and Alex felt quite nervous with this unfamiliar person watching her struggle with this three letter word. The Woman didn't say anything until Alex had finished her word with a "d" at the end.

'Cat is spelled with a "t" at the end,' Alex looked at the Woman and then at her writings.

Violently she ran her hand through the mash potato writing before leaning back against the wall and pulling up her knees to her chest: 'It's hopeless. I'll never learn this on my own.'

'You can't write?'

'No,' Alex bit back.

'Have you never gone to school?'

'Don't be so surprised. It's your fault too after all.'

'My fault? How is this my fault?' the Woman seemed genuinely confused, but Alex was too angry to bother or even notice.

'You're working for them!'

'Under duress,' the woman spoke softly. 'They found out I was a mutant so they kidnapped my brother and said they would hurt him if I didn't obey. Then they discovered that all I can do is make soap bubbles float and they made me their personal maid. I'm just as much a prisoner here, as you are.'

'Sorry, that sucks. But forgive me if I don't really pity you. My head hurts too much to care,' Alex snapped feeling slightly guilty for her outburst. And besides, this woman didn't have to go through what she had gone through and was at least twice her age. The maid started cleaning up the mess of Alex' food.

'That's okay. The torture must be pretty rough.'

'It is, but that damage is already healed. I've got a headache now.'

'Did you hit the floor when they threw you in here?'

'Probably,' but Alex really thought otherwise. Tatiana had asked a few questions every day while checking up on her tumours. If she had a headache, nausea or dizziness. And right now, she had all three symptoms. The tumour was growing and she wouldn't have much time left this time.

'Is there anything I can do?' the maid asked concerned.

'Not really.' Alex pulled her knees in tighter.

'It's pretty tough though, that you can last this long in torture. I heard them say you were thirteen and you didn't give tem anything.'

'That's because I don't know anything!' Alex was now getting fed up with all the questions and conversation this woman was trying to make. 'If I had I would have told someone!' This woman was trying to get to things that didn't concern her. She was prying into Alex business, but Alex wasn't going to fall for it again. In here she couldn't trust anyone.

'It's okay. There's no need to hide anything from me. You can trust me.'

'I don't even know your name!'

'That's true,' she replied. 'Well, it won't matter now, but I'm Kim.'

'Alex,' she said. Then silence fell between them as the maid cleaned up her food writings with a cloth she had in a pocket of her apron. She had probably offended the made with her rude way of announcing her distrust. After al, she was almost as much of a prisoner here as Alex was. Maybe she should show that she didn't mean it like that. But words had never obeyed her that well.

'Do you-,' Alex swallowed. What was she doing? Should she really ask something? What if she offenced the maid again. Should she really voice her thoughts?

'Do I what?' Kim asked.

'Never mind,' Alex had chickened out like a coward. Opening up still hurt. It was uncomfortable and unnatural. All she had ever been taught was how to stay hidden and conceal. She couldn't drop her guard or she'd get caught. But now at the school they had been trying to teach her to let people in. The world was confusing and too difficult for Alex to keep up with. She was not very socially skilled and in this situation she didn't know which behavioural patter she had to follow. Kim seemed rather down. Her question might give her some confidence in Alex and her friendliness again.

All right, there goes nothing.

'Do you know if they'll be coming again today?' Kim clearly took a second to take this in. She was probably surprised that Alex had asked that question, or any question at all. But her reply showed nothing of that.

'I don't think so. They're still figuring out what to do with you. See if you really don't know a thing before they start the experiments.' Alex could see a light grin on Kim's face as the woman turned towards the door to leave. 'You'll be safe for today.'

'Okay,' Alex replied and then Kim left, leaving Alex alone with her thoughts again. There was really nothing in the room. Only now Alex really found herself capable of taking in the room. There was absolutely nothing in it. They hadn't even supplied her with a pile of straw to sleep on as they had in the Russian holding cell. There was absolutely nothing. What did they think she could do. Perhaps they were scared of the multitude of powers she had. After all, they had seen her speed, diamond skin, plasma grenade and healing powers. Perhaps they thought she had many more.

When would she finally get the chance to send them in the right direction? To just have them start their genetic experiments and find out what the hell was wrong with her DNA. Suddenly she heard a soft sound like the chime of a small bell, followed by the laughter of a small child.

'Who's there?' Alex asked. There was no reply, just the chime again. Alex got to her knees and looked around. This had to be them again. They must have given up on physical torture and resorted to psychological torture. This was something she was unfamiliar with. Her father had told her about it and had tried to prepare her, but with her limited social contact she had never had any real life experience. There was the sound of that child again and Alex was now very sure the source was coming from the right wall. He got up and pressed her ear against the wall. The chime was clearer now and she could hear the sound of small feet.

'Who is there?' Alex asked again.

'I am.' Alex nearly jumped back. This had to be a trick. This had to be them messing with her. She should stop this. Cover her ears and not listen, but something in the sound of that voice touched a string of her heart. It was familiar in some way. This was coming too close to home, but she had to know.

'Who are you?'

'I'm Alexandra, but everyone calls me Alex.' No. NO! They were provoking her. They wanted her to say something to this girl that was supposed to be herself. After all, if she couldn't trust herself, then who could she trust? This was not her voice though, it sounded much, much younger. It still sounded so innocent. It must have been… eight years ago. That was the last time she was that innocent.

'What do you want?'

'I came to warn you, Onee-chan.' Japanese? Why Japanese? She had learned Japanese only last year. And why address her as a big sister? This was making no sense.

'Warn me?'

'Turn around and watch your step.'

'What do you mean?' There was no reply. 'Why do I have to-?' The chiming stopped. 'Wait!' But without even seeing it she knew that her younger self had disappeared. Alex sighed. There was nothing to do, but turn around as she had been told. But what she saw went beyond her wildest imagination.

'I'm definitely losing my mind.'

And she was not alone. Logan was getting sick with the fact that he made no progress at all in finding Alex. Frank and Ben kept on telling him to have faith. They were inquiring with various government bodies where they could be holding Alex. But, since she was a terrorist on paper, any inquiry sent them back to the motel. What was worse was that she didn't even seem to exist in any of their books. As if they could simply erase that girl from the world with a few buttons. It was true that most of Alex' papers had been faked or destroyed. On paper she had died in a gas explosion at her house that also killed her parents eight years ago.

It was downright frustrating. Logan was now pacing in the lobby as Frank could return any moment with news about his visit to the local field office of the FBI. How Frank had gotten the information as to where to find it was for the moment ignored by Logan. He just wanted good news. Unfortunately, hardly any news they would get would be pretty much bad or worse. She couldn't be in a normal facility and that meant she would be in an off the grid high security containment unit where they would be doing god knows what to her in order to figure out what secrets she held.

At that moment the glass doors slid apart and Logan nearly jumped at Frank to get the information: 'Did you locate her? Where is she?'

'Logan,' Frank interrupted him. 'I couldn't even get through the door.' Logan's hopes fell again. All fingers had been pointed to the FBI by the previous people they had asked, but now they seemed to have hit a dead end. FBI didn't know.

'As soon as I mentioned that we're looking for a young girl they started shooting at me with some sort of darts filled with liquid.' This immediately sprang Logan's attention again.

'They shot at you with the cure upon mentioning Alex?! They have got to have something ado with this.'

'Logan, aren't you being a little hasty?' Ben asked as he joined them. 'Nothing is certain.'

'Why else would they shoot at Frank with the cure. They have no reason to feel threatened by him if he asks about a girl. He is no mutant, so why use the cure? This is it, I know.'

'Well, if you really think so, then we must pursue this,' Frank said. 'We'll help you, Logan.'

'That's all nice of you guys, but this is going to be dangerous. I'd rather not see anyone else get hurt in this. I'll go by myself, but thank you for the hospitality and the help.'

'It's no problem, Logan,' Ben smiled. 'Just make sure you get her back.' To this Logan smiled.

Alex was not able to smile though. The temperature in the room had dropped and she felt shivers roll down her spine as goose bumps formed on her bare arms and legs. There was snow falling from the ceiling, but it never touched the ground. Just a small step and she'd be standing on the small frozen pond that had appeared in the concrete room. It just didn't touch the wall, but took up almost the entire room. What was this? This couldn't be real. It had to be a trick, but right now Alex wasn't sure it wasn't her own mind messing with her. She wasn't dreaming, of that she was sure, but the headache also made her doubt every thought she had.

'Nani?' Why was there Japanese coming out of her mouth? She was losing it. She was losing her mind. This was going wrong. How could she have done this? She had no powers for this, and she was not recovered enough to do anything. She doubted she could even get across the room at super speed and that couldn't be more than a few metres. Why was this happening? Alex fell to her knees as the trembling, which she hadn't noticed before, got too strong for her legs to hold up. A light cracking sound came from the ice as her knees came in contact with it. It had to be very thin. If she broke it her room would be flooded, that couldn't happen. She would drown.

Carefully she crawled to the corner and pulled up her knees as close to her chest as she could to steer clear of the ice that took up so much of the room. She was scared. She was terrified and alone and tired. When would this end? When would the headache stop and just end it for her? Why was this happening. Why couldn't she be granted a tiny little bit of happiness? Where was Logan when she needed him.

A tear rolled down her cheek and sat there in silence. She couldn't keep her thoughts in check and it was scary where her mind was taking her. She was thrown to her earliest childhood memories. She saw her mother and her father and the pain was unbearable. It was like someone was playing football in her heart and head without a clue where the goal was. She couldn't handle this. She needed someone to help her. She needed Logan. And finally she gained control over her thoughts.

Logan was all she had to keep herself sane. Just thoughts of her new dad. And that way the hours ticked by in silence. She didn't get a wink of sleep and the tears were never absent. She didn't know what she was supposed to do but wait. She was scared of her own thoughts and the frozen lake in her cell. There was no escape, just waiting.

'Hey, Alex?' The door opened, but Alex didn't respond to Kim walking in. She sat curled up in the corner, eyes open but blind to the world. Alex was completely unresponsive and frankly it frightened Kim who took a step forward.

'Don't!' Alex called out suddenly. Immediately awake she panicked at what the maid was trying to do. Kim immediately froze as the door fell close behind her.

'What?'

'You'll fall into the lake.'

'What lake?' this proved it to Alex. Kim couldn't see it, so the frozen lake had to be a trick of Alex' mind. 'What did you see, Alex?'

'Betsuni,' she muttered.

'What did you say?' Again she had spoken Japanese. It was as if she was losing control over her own body. Curling up again she pressed her lips firmly together to prevent herself from doing anything else out of the ordinary.

'Listen, Alex. I know you don't trust anyone in here and that you're in far worse condition than anyone else here. But I really want to make your suffering less. I want to help you. So talk to me and maybe I can arrange something.'

'No, you can't,' Alex finally cracked. The loneliness and exhaustion, both mental and physical were breaking her up. She couldn't take this mental torture of the confined room and the silence. She was not good with staying in one place. She preferred the torture above this.

'What do you mean, I can't.'

'You can't break me out of here, you can't stop the torture. It never ends. There is no way out. I came here to die. I knew that. I don't like it, but I wasn't going to make it out anyway. At least this way, they'll be safe. If you really wanted to help me, you'd kill me right here and now. So all of this would stop. Because no matter how much I want answers, I cannot take this any longer.'

'Slow down, I can't keep up,' Kim knelt in front of Alex. 'You came here looking for answers, expecting to die? And who are they?'

'Don't try to trick me!' Alex yelled. 'I won't break. You can't drive me insane. Stop this, stop this!' tears were now rolling fast.

'Alex,' Kim reached out to touch her, but Alex shunned away, further into her corner if that was possible. 'I'm your friend.'

'How can you be, the whole world seems to be out to get me. Eight years, and when I finally think it will all be fine there is this. You denied me a life. The hunt has to end, finally.'

'You were hunted for eight years? That must have been terrible.'

'Not as bad as losing my mother when I was eight, or losing my dad last year, or being betrayed by the people I thought I could trust. Not as bad as the fevers, the explosions I had to suffer through. Every time you think it can't get any worse the world proves your wrong. Every time I dared to get my hopes up I had them shattered right before my eyes. I don't have any secrets. I don't want to hide anything from you because if we all have the answers this might finally end. I'm done. Don't prove me wrong in thinking it can't get any worse than this.'

'Unfortunately, I do have bad news for you. They are trying to capture a telepath to read your mind and unravel all your secrets.'

'That's not bad news,' Alex looked up. 'I have a passive telepathic power that protects me from having my mind read. It just hurts like hell, but at least it's better than this.'

'Better than this?' Kim was puzzled.

'No, I shouldn't tell you,' Alex averted her eyes again. 'You should go.'

'I won't Alex, it was time someone started to take care of you. They have no one looking after your wellbeing and I know you're about to break. I'm not leaving.'

'I said get out,' Alex repeated.

'I won't,' Kim stated again.

'Get out!' Plasma sparks ran down her back, but at that exact moment she heard the chime again. Alex shrieked and covered her ears with her hands. 'Please, no.' But right behind Kim she appeared. Alex. She recognised herself at the age of five. Back when she had still been normal, unscarred. Just another girl. When she had still had her parents. Five year old Alex pressed her finger to her lips before walking to the centre of the room, the centre of the frozen lake. There she kneeled down and looked at Alex with a light smile on her face and her hands folded in her lap.

'You're seeing something, aren't you?' Kim asked. Alex was too confounded to put up any form of a fight any longer and nodded very slowly. 'Alex, I can help you. What do you see?'

'M-me,' Alex stammered.

'You're seeing yourself? Tell me more.'

'Ohayo, Onee-chan. Hisashiburi,' young Alex spoke up. Alex didn't know how to reply or to whom.

'Please, help me.'

'Alex, I can help, what do you see?'

'I see myself before the agents came to our house. There is a frozen lake in the room and my younger self is sitting on the lake. But she is speaking Japanese. She's not supposed to be speaking Japanese.'

'That is curious. Alex, why are you seeing her?'

'Because the torture went too far. I'm losing my mind. I saw my parents, my guardian, and now myself.'

'It's okay. You don't have to go through this alone,' Kim moved closer and put her hand on Alex knee. 'I'll be there with you.'

'Why is the lake here? I don't like it. The ice is too thin. I'm going to fall through it any moment.'

'Are you also sitting on the lake?'

'Younger me is, I can't. I'll fall through, I'll drown.'

'You can't swim.'

'Not really well. Just a bit. There are many things I can't do.'

'There are,' young Alex suddenly came between. 'You just need to stop holding yourself back.'

'Holding back?' Alex asked.

'Is she saying something?' Kim asked, but Alex ignored her as young Alex spoke again.

'Stop lying to yourself, Onee-chan. You can do so many things. You just need to take control. You can get out and survive. You're strong. Dad told us that, didn't he? You've grown. I'm just in the past. You know different people. You've got friends. Take control, Onee-chan.'

'How do I do that?'

'You supply the information. Tell them and they'll know.'

'I can't,' Alex protested.

'Yes, you can. Just don't tell them about the last two months. We'll open up the lake and swap secrets.'

'What do you mean?'

'You can trust her with this, Onee-chan.'

'Alex, daijoubu desu ka?' Kim looked very worried.

'Hai,' Alex nodded at Kim's question to if she was alright. 'I need to tell you something before I don't get the chance to tell anyone else.' And so she started from the beginning eight and a half years ago. Her travels over the world, all the things she had been through, losing her parents, being betrayed over and over again. She told about all the questions she had, how scared she had been. And finally she came to the one evening in the bar.

Her throat hurt from the talking and the ever threatening tears. She was exhausted from the reminiscing and her headache was getting worse by the second. And her heart was breaking as she thought about Logan. She was going to have to tell Kim about him next, but the words got stuck in her throat. She couldn't think rationally anymore. Logan had always been there for her, but right now he was throwing her off balance without even really talking to her.

'Alex, what happened in that bar?'

'I'm sorry, I-,' Alex felt the tears rolling over her cheeks.

'It's okay, Alex. I'll see what I can do for you and I'll come back after you've rested, okay?' Alex nodded weakly. On the ice her younger self still sat and looked at her, slowly nodding. Kim got up and walked straight towards the door, but that was exactly when Alex noticed it. Her younger self was smiling and nodding, but the eyes were wrong. There was pain and fear written in them, the door closed and for the slightest of moments real panic appeared on her younger self's features as she reached to get up and run over to her big sister. But then suddenly all disappeared. The cell was empty again and Alex was alone. Still in her ears it was ringing.

"_tasukete."_


	18. The Beginning of the End

**The beginning of the end **

_With the FBI_

'Oy! Open up!' Logan yelled through the intercom of the FBI field office.

'I'm sorry, sir, but we can't let anyone-,' the poor, terrified female on the other side of the line was rudely interrupted by Logan once again.

'Listen, missy, I am going to go inside and if you don't open the doors I'll break them open.'

'Sir, step away from the door,' suddenly came from behind. Logan spun around and saw three men in heavy armour with cure guns. So this was the defence. Fine. If they wanted to play it that way, he would play along. He pulled out his claws and broke straight through the bullet proof sliding door that had kept him out of the building for now. The three guards were taken completely by surprise and started the pursuit. But Logan was far ahead and making his way upstairs where the big office had to be.

Suddenly two guards appeared on his right, no cure gun, but tasers. This was unfair for them. Immediately Logan retreated his claws and hit the first one square in the stomach.

'Stop!' the second one already held out the taser to stun him. 'I won't let you pass.' But Logan hit him in the head and he fell back on the ground unconscious. Up another flight of stairs. Two levels higher they were holding normal guns.

'Stop! Or we will shoot!' But Logan ignored it and true to their word they started shooting. Two bullets rebounced from his skull, another sunk deep into his shoulder and one in his arm. Logan howled in pain, but he didn't slow down. The unfortunate first one who had coincidentally also been the first one to shoot was hit hard on the side and he toppled over the railing of the stairwell before plummeting down six floors. A second one he slammed into the wall before scratching the third one with a claw and drawing blood. Logan was getting angrier and angrier by the second.

'He's going for the director!' He could hear from downstairs. 'He'll make him free that terrorist!'

'We can't let that happen.' But Logan wasn't going to let himself be stopped by words. He reached the top floor and five men poured out of a door of reinforced steel. One of them stopped to lock it, but it wasn't going to keep Logan from getting in. He roared and showed his claws. Immediately one of the men pulled a cure gun, but before he could even remove the safety Logan had already cut the gun in half and thrown the man down a flight of stairs. The next ones weren't so fortunate. He slammed the closest one to the ground, put his claws through one's leg and banged the heads of the last two against the reinforced steel before tearing open the door with his adamantium claws.

Inside a dark skinned man got up from his seat at the glass desk, ready to run, call for help, anything. But Logan got to him first and grabbed his collar before dragging him halfway across the table. This was the man who knew. They knew where she was. They knew and they were going to tell him. And he was never going to rest until he had found her. He could hear the heavy footsteps on the concrete stairs drawing closer and he knew he had only seconds before they would come bursting into the room with their cure guns. A single shot from a cure gun and he would be dead, never find Alex. He'd leave her to those damned bastards who were doing god knows what to her. No, he wouldn't let that happen to her.

'Where is my daughter?!' the dark skinned man trembled with fear, but did seem to register what Logan had said. He hadn't even realised it himself, but he had asked for his daughter. Alex, his only daughter, his family, not by blood, but by everything else.

'Y-your d-d-daughter?'

'Where are you keeping her?! What are you doing to her?! I swear if you've hurt her I'll tear you to pieces!'

'I-I-I don't know what you're talking about.'

'Where is my daughter?!' Logan dragged the dark skinned man across the table, but before he could make another move the guards burst into the room, cure guns ready. The only reason they hesitated was because their boss was right in their line of fire.

'Who is your daughter?' the dark skinned man asked.

'Don't play dumb! You abducted her when she was weak! Took her in because you is different! Where is she?!'

'Sir!' One of the guards yelled asking for instructions on what do to.

'Wait!' the dark skinned man said. 'The terrorist is your daughter?'

'She's not a terrorist! She's scared and hurt and confused. She's tired of all of you hunting her.'

'Hunting her? She caused explosions that can rival the force of bombs.'

'Well, she didn't do that eight years ago!'

'Eight years ago? We didn't even know of her existence eight years ago.'

'Don't lie to me!' Guns were raised again as Logan shook the director of the FBI's field office in his anger.

'I'm not lying. We did research into her, we can't find any records of her anywhere. Just a sighting in the Netherlands a few years back, an incident with an explosion there about a month ago and the incident of a few days ago. There is nothing about her.'

'Nothing?'

'It's not uncommon for mutants that they wipe their entire past clean. She is by far the youngest one to do so, but it is possible.'

'No, it's not. The kid has no clue how to use computers and alike.'

'Isn't it possible that she had someone else do it for her?'

'Stop wasting my time with these stupid questions! She was terrified of anyone who came near her before I found her.'

'You found her? So-.'

'Of course I'm not her real father, but I'm all she has. Now, tell me where she is!'

'I'm sorry, but I don't know exactly where she is. To keep anyone from trying to free her, several locations were assigned for holding her and at the last minute the field commander would get to decide where he went. But even if you'll settle for the locations of all facilities, I will not tell you those. I'd sooner die.'

'What?!'

'We cannot let her run free, she is a danger to society and must be contained. In order to do so we'll have to study her. If I tell you the locations, you'll stop at nothing to break her out. We can't have that happen.'

'Who said anything about killing,' Logan growled. With one swift movement he used the director of the office as a shield for the cure guns as he moved up to them. A haul with his claws broke two of the guns, he threw the director into the third guard before pulling the gun from him and breaking it with his bare hands. Then he knocked out the two free guards with a few well aimed punches. The third one and the director crawled up but as Logan growled the guard ran off. Logan grabbed the director before he could run away and slammed him on the desk.

'Tell me where she is!' The director still held his mouth shut until Logan jammed a claw into the director's leg. 'Where is she?!'

'Okay, okay. There's a file on my computer that has a list of the locations.'

In one of the eleven facilities listed on that computer Alex was still curled up in the same corner. She hadn't been able to get one bit of sleep. Her head was hurting like hell and that single word was ringing through her mind. _Tasukete. _It meant: Help me. What was going on? What was she missing? But she felt her body was fighting against her. She hadn't had food in at least three days and the sleep deprivation was also doing no good. Besides that they were constantly forgetting to bring her water and she was on the brink of dehydration. On top of that she was cold and her body was stiff from the hard ground of the cell. She had no energy left, but also couldn't get herself to sleep.

'Tasukete,' she said to no one in particular, but as soon as the words rolled over her lips a person appeared into mind. Had she had any tears left she would have cried, but she was too tired and dehydrated to do anything. Logan. He wasn't going to come and break her out. He didn't know where she was, he didn't know why she had come here, he didn't know who was holding her. She couldn't go back anymore. She had made a choice and it had panned out for the worse.

'Sorry, Logan. I couldn't do it after all.' She closed her eyes and the thoughts started spinning in her mind again, keeping her up. Maybe she should end her own life right here. She could blow herself to bits. Her healing power probably wouldn't be able to do anything against that. Tiny pieces of Alex splattered all around the room. They would definitely be shocked. But it would be unfair. It would be giving up, and that was the one thing Logan would never want her to do. She had to be strong and last. Last until the very end.

'Alex?' The door opened again. Alex hadn't even heard the rattling this time. She could barely keep her eyes open as Kim came in with food and water. She closed the door and then saw Alex lying curled up in the corner.

'Alex!' She quickly put down the plate and helped Alex to a sitting position. 'Here, drink some water.' She helped Alex drink before giving her some absolutely disgusting food, but it was better than nothing. 'Did you get some sleep?' Alex shook her head slowly. 'It's going really bad with you, isn't it? I'm sorry there isn't more I can do.'

'It's enough,' Alex said weakly as she leant into Kim. 'It's only temporarily after all.'

'What do you mean?'

'If I don't die of what will happen in here, I'll die anyway.'

'Do you want to tell me about it?' Alex nodded slowly against Kim's shoulder. 'Will you be able to?'

'I think so,' Alex sat up a bit more. And she continued her story. She told about meeting Logan, about being taken to a safe place. How she had been well taken care of. But suddenly the room turned very cold again and the lake was forming. Violently young Alex fell on the ice and Alex could see cracks starting to form.

'Don't tell her about them. You can't!' young Alex called out, but in the blink of an eye she sat up perfectly straight and smiled: 'You can trust her.' Alex was confused and she hesitated.

'What is it, Alex? Is something wrong?' Kim asked.

'I'm fine, just tired,' the lie felt good to roll of her tongue, but she was slightly surprised with her own way of handling it, yet at the same time she couldn't think of any other way she would have ever handled this.

'So what happened at this house you were staying at? You said there were other mutants there who took care of you. Was it like a school? Were there other's like you?'

'I've never been really good at school things,' Alex said. 'I made friends. But then the threat came again and I had to run. The men were after me again. And I fled. I travelled all the way to China and Japan with Logan to get rid of them, but they found us again in China and I got injured in that fight. I don't remember much about how we got to Amsterdam, or what exactly happened there. Apparently we made the news. I just remember a lot of pain during surgery back here. They lost me for a few seconds, but my healing powers were strong enough apparently. But with information my father had collected, my friends did put a few pieces of the puzzle together. The reason my powers spin out of control is a brain tumour. It's rather bad and it will kill me soon enough. Especially with the stress of you hunting me. So when you showed up, I decided to go turn myself in to you in order to get the answers I needed. To find out why you started chasing me, what is so special about me and how it works.'

'That's really all you know?'

'Yes.'

'Thank you, Alex, that is all.' Kim got up and Alex, who had not expected this sudden and cold reaction, fell back to the floor.

Kim threw open the door: 'Come and get her, there's nothing useful. She knows nothing. Set up the lab chamber and start the experiments.'

'Kim?!'

'Shut up, we're done talking.' The look on her face as she turned back to Alex made the younger one of the two females want to crawl into her corner again. But she was nothing if not defiant and Alex wasn't going to accept what she was seeing without a fight. It couldn't be that this woman in a maid uniform, who had been so nice to her would be able to do this.

'What?!' Alex yelled.

'You naïve little girl. You may be a damned good fighter, but you definitely need to catch up on your people skills. Did you really think that I was just a prisoner like you? Poor Kim who would work for them because of her brother. Ha! I just needed to make sure you told me all you knew. Turns out it really wasn't much.'

'But,' Alex couldn't believe it. What was happening? Was she… Not again. It couldn't be that she fell for it again.

'The little girl in the room? That was all me. Five year old Alex on a frozen pond filled with secrets. I can make you see things that aren't really there. Pretty cool mutation, huh? And you were so gullible. Missing your daddy makes you such a crybaby. Well, I'd better go supervise the experiments. Enjoy your last hours in one piece.'

'NO!' Alex screamed as the door fell shut. 'You bitch! I trusted you!' Even Logan might take a step back at the colourful and creative vocabulary that spouted out at her tormenter who wasn't even hearing it. She had been betrayed again. Even after all this time she couldn't see it when people were going to betray her. She had told Kim too much. So very much about her life. At least she had kept her mouth about the other second generations. But now they would know about Logan. There was no chance of her ever seeing him again, and she was not going to get her answers. She would never get to hear why she was different, why they had hunted her.

Tears formed again in her eyes. Why? Why again? Why now? There was nothing left for her. Her head touched the ground as she curled up again and made herself as small as possible. Her mind was screaming at her how stupid she had been, memories of those she loved flashed by at lightning speed. It was over she had lost. She wanted to die. She wanted it all to be over. The pain and anguish. She wanted to forget forever, even if that meant leaving Logan alone. She wasn't ever going to see him again anyway. The door opened and heavy footsteps came in.

Without looking up she spoke the words softly: 'Please, kill me.' Strong hands in a protective suit picked her up by her waist and carried her out. Alex didn't see a thing through her tears as she hung limply at his side. Inside she had already died, and it was just a matter of time before the outside would give in.

Danny screamed. He screamed as loud as he could. Not Fox. Not his only friend in the mansion. She was not allowed to die. He couldn't let her. Maze stormed into his room and found Danny sitting on the floor staring at the opposite wall. He immediately hurried over to check if the boy was okay. The red warning light in the room was still going on, but as soon as Maze touched Danny he suddenly also heard the loud sirens that had started ringing in Danny's head. Immediately he let go and the sound was silenced. Danny was muttering to himself and Maze looked around to see what could have upset the boy this much.

That was when he saw the screen. Danny's projection ability. On the opposite wall of the room. Danny had projected a white screen filled with information about Alex. The warning notice stood out the most: Warning, death sequence initiated.

Immediately Maze turned to the boy and crouched right in front of him so he could look Danny in the eye: 'Danny, do you know anything else about Alex. Where she is? What is going on? Anything? If you do, tell me then we can help her.'

'I don't know.' Danny shook his head. 'I don't know. I don't know. Where is she? Where can we help her? I don't know. I don't know.' Danny's mental stability was getting worse.

'Tinman!' Maze called out for his night guard backup. Within a few seconds Tinman came bursting into the room.

'What?'

'Wake Storm, Kitty and Tatiana. Danny knows something about Alex and he is getting more and more upset over it.' Tinman nodded and hurried off to get the other two teachers. Maze tried to calm Danny down, but he didn't get through to the boy. The usually already quiet boy had a severe dislike of Tatiana, who was the only one who came even remotely close to understanding how his brain worked. He respected Storm, but didn't trust her. The only one he really spoke to was Kitty, but even that was minimally. With the three women in the room, they might be able to figure out what was going on.

Kitty was the first to appear in the room as she ran straight through all the walls. When Danny spotted her he started crying and stretched his arms out like a child wanting to be held by their mother. Kitty immediately put her arms around the boy and sent Maze a look that told him this was very bad. If something was wrong with Danny it was very wrong. Usually it had something ado with his power, and his power was one of the two they still didn't understand. But unlike Alex', Danny's power was at least not dangerous. Danny could see things and project them on a screen, but that was really as far as they got.

Storm and Tatiana appeared together, both in their nightgowns and immediately kneeled next to the three on the ground.

'Danny, Danny, tell us what is wrong,' Tatiana said. At this Danny started crying even louder and clung to Kitty for dear life. He was not capable of telling anything at the moment. Maze took control and got up.

'This is probably the problem,' he directed their attention towards the screen with Alex' details and the warning sign.

'Death?' Tatiana spoke shocked into a frozen state. 'Is she…'

'She's still alive, I think, but not for long.'

'We need to contact Logan,' Storm said.

'Are you sure? His mental stability is already beyond the point of questionable. If we tell him about this, he'll lose it completely. I'm not sure if even on the long term he'll be able to cope with another loss this big,' Tatiana spoke worriedly. All eyes turned to Storm who hesitated a moment before answering.

'If we do not contact him he will face this all alone. Either he will keep on searching for her his entire life, or he'll find her when it's all too late. This way, we might actually have a chance of him overcoming the shock at all. Remember that Logan has all the time in the world,' Storm spoke.

'Danny, you're not hurt, are you?' Kitty asked. Danny sniffled once more and let her go to wipe away a few tears. Then he shook his head to tell them he was not physically injured.

'Okay, that's good, because I think you can help Alex and maybe we can stop this,' Kitty spoke like she was talking to a boy much younger than 14 years of age. 'You do want to help her right?' Danny nodded vigorously. 'Okay, then. Danny, do you know where Alex is?' For a moment nothing happened. Danny stared at Kitty with big eyes as if he didn't understand what she was saying, not even understanding that it was a question.

Tatiana was about to call it quits when Danny suddenly opened his mouth: 'I need access.'

'Can you get access?' Kitty asked.

'I forgot my password,' Danny said. 'But it's in the mansion.'

'What do we have to look for?'

'Red light that you can't see. I do know. I remember.'

'What is it?' Kitty persisted.

'It's here,' Danny got up and started walking around aimlessly. 'One, three, two, two, one, two, one, one, three, one, four, two, one, two, two, one, three.' Danny continued to repeat these four numbers as he walked around.

'Kitty, he's not helping at all. He's stalling us.'

'Cut it out, Tatiana. Just be patient,' Kitty replied before turning to Danny again. 'Is that your password?'

'What password? I'm not looking for a password, I need access.'

'Can you get access?'

Danny shook his head: 'Not without it. My thoughts are all foggy. Can you help me?'

'Of course,' Kitty stood next to the boy and took his shoulders. 'You're looking for something Danny. Something that can help you get access.'

'Why do I need access?'

'To find where Fox is. You remember Fox, right?' Danny nodded. 'Okay, you can find where Fox is, but you need access somewhere. Where do you need access?'

'Second core of my mutation,' Danny answered.

'How can you get access to the second core of your mutation?'

'With the password in the remote control.'

'Okay, where is the remote control?'

'I don't know,' Danny said. He put his fist to his lips and thought really hard for a moment before he suddenly remembered: 'It's in the closet.' Maze opened the closet and at the bottom, on top of a few folded shirts was indeed a remote control. He took it and brought it to Kitty who again put it in Danny's hands.

'You had me find this for a reason. And the reason was because of Fox. How can I help her?' Danny's shattered thoughts at least formed some part of the idea now and Kitty could guide him further. Danny was special in the sense that he knew things, but apparently couldn't always access them. None of the teachers had ever seen Danny with a remote control before, but to Kitty it made sense. She knew most about his power and sometimes he needed a tool to control it. Before he had always used a controller of a game console, but the remote control made sense to her.

'You need the remote control to access the second core of your power and find where Fox is.' Danny nodded and pressed the on button on the remote control. A red light shone for a second and suddenly Danny froze. He stared right at the projection of Alex' details and all teachers followed his gaze to see what he was doing. The warning notice was moved to the side and then he started switching between screens at lightning speed. Sometimes a new line of information appeared, but only a second later he would be switching again.

Finally he stopped at the page of details. Added to the fairly short list was now "Location: Facility 6B". Then Danny blinked and all disappeared, the red light in the room disappeared, the screen disappeared and Danny yawned. Without giving any bit more of his attention to the teachers he walked to his bed and crawled under the covers. Within seconds he was asleep. Kitty guided all of them out of the room before they started to discuss what they had just learned.

'Facility 6B. That could be anywhere,' Tatiana complained. 'He's just messing with us.'

'Danny doesn't mess with people, he just doesn't understand them. Facility 6B must mean something. I think that if we tell Logan, he'll know exactly where Alex will be,' Kitty said.

'I don't want to turn this into an issue between you two,' Storm said. 'But Kitty is probably right. Kitty, if you come with me we'll contact Logan right away. Alex doesn't have much time anymore. Tatiana, maze, this information is not to reach any of the students, especially not the other second generation children. Also their parents are not allowed to know. We'll keep this between the four of us. Is that clear?' All nodded and with that they parted ways.

Logan was furious. He had just searched the entirety of the third facility and had found nothing. Again an empty building. He didn't have time for this. He needed to find Alex before she did something stupid, but this way it could take forever before he had searched all facilities. He had encountered people only at the second facility. Their machine guns had been easily overcome and five bodies had been left behind, but there was nothing and no one else in the facilities.

He slammed his fist on the lab table next to him. It broke in two and all things on the table shattered as they hit the ground. With a roar he threw over another table and watched as the empty bottles and phials hit the floor and wall. Splinters of glass flew everywhere. Where was she?!

At that moment his cell phone rang and yelled into the phone as he picked up: 'What?!'

'Logan, it's Storm.' Upon hearing her voice Logan's interest was immediately spiked. Storm wouldn't call him for any other reason than that she had information. It couldn't be anything else. They had found her and needed him to overtake the building.

'You found her.'

'Logan, you have to listen to me carefully. We have information regarding Alex' condition. Danny got a warning notice about half an hour earlier that said that a death sequence was initiated. There was no countdown or anything, but something is very wrong with her.' Logan was about to roar into the phone. 'However, he's also given us a location that you might be able to use.'

'What is it?' Logan bit.

'Facility 6B.'

'No address or whatever?'

'We hoped you'd be able to use it,' Storm said. Logan's thoughts were spinning wild. Images of Alex dead on the floor in a puddle of blood, torn in half or worse ran through his mind as he tried to put the pieces together of what facility 6B could mean. And then he remembered the list. Eleven facilities. There was no such thing as a B on the list, but he had a location for the sixth facility. Close to the Canadian border in the far east. It was over six hours drive, but he would get there.

'Logan, she's not dead yet, you still have time.'

'I know,' Logan said and with that he hung up. This was no time to be lingering about he had to get to his daughter and fast. Time was ticking and it was announcing nothing but the end.


	19. At Last

**At last**

_With a motorcycle and a set of claws_

Alex was lying on her face on a cold metal table again. They had started with drawing blood. Lots and lots of blood. They took pieces of skin to analyse, hairs, bodily fluids and god knows what more. It had hurt. They had cut into her and she couldn't resist at all. Then they had moved her and another group of people had been given access to her. These people were far less carefull. With fluids that burned right through her they had tested her powers. They had made her plasma grenade explode several times. They had watched her heal, stopped it, let it recommence. And again all she had been able to do was curse them and cry. But after four hours of intense pain there was nothing left she could do. She was completely done for.

She had given up before the experiments had even started, but she couldn't distance herself from the pain. The only way to make it any less was to not do anything. They had carried her limp figure to the third experiment room and dropped her on the table without even tying her up. She wasn't going anywhere. There was too little life left in her to put up a fight. Around her she heard someone announcing the beginning of the third series of experiments, but she didn't really listen to what he was describing. She felt the eyes on her beaten body, the hatred they had towards her.

Without another warning suddenly it began. The sound was just low enough for her to hear, but she wished she didn't. The sound bounced around on the inside of her skull and resonated through her bones. Every fibre in her body felt like it was about to explode with pain. Her scream seemed to startle all those observing her. And as soon as they noticed the sound stopped. Alex gasped for air and got up to a sitting position so she could put her head in her neck to get more air. The pain was too bad. Never in her life had she felt so much pain. This was worse than the worst torture she could have ever imagined. Shivers of plasma sparks ran down her spine and her headache was throbbing even worse than before. Her head felt like it was clenched in a vice and they were tightening it.

Out of nowhere it begun again. Alex back arched as she cried out so loud she thought her lungs might be thrown out of her body. Her cells were shaking and rubbing against each other. She could feel her insides tearing slowly. She doubled up and curled up as tightly as she could to prevent that from happening, but the skin over her spine gave in and opened like a zipper under tension. All control over her body was lost as the volume of the sound seemed to increase more and more and the pain increased with it. Fluids were forced out of her body and she cried without even really doing so. All she could do was scream, but eventually the sound left her as well.

Within seconds of it beginning she prayed for it to stop, but it didn't. They held on. All muscles in Alex body were completely tense. Sparks were now jumping from her, pieces of diamond started sticking through her skin. And then a muscle in her arm snapped. Alex was thrown on her back in a recoil that she didn't control, but this sudden movement made another muscle in her leg snap and she banged against the table. And that caused a plasma explosion. Alex flew a few feet up in the air before slamming back on the table. Why wasn't she losing consciousness. Why. Whay. Wa.

And suddenly it stopped again. All tension let go and Alex nearly fell apart. She was lying halfway on the table, one arm and one leg dangling of it. She could feel herself patching up again. The diamonds and plasma sparks disappeared and her muscles were pulling back together. Deep inside her stomach nausea welled up and she her painful body arched again as she retched. She rolled of the table and fell on her hands and knees where the nothing that was in her stomach really did come out. She couldn't even piece thoughts together and feelings were dominated by the awful way she was feeling. She was sticky from the sweat, tears, drool, vomit and urine. Everything hurt, and she knew that she was about to die.

But before she could peacefully die, they turned on the sound again. Alex' spastic movement threw her against the floor where she convulsed violently in silent screams.

While Alex went blank with the pain, Logan's mind was raging. With screeching tires he came to a stop in front of the massive building that was facility 6 on the list. It was deserted. It couldn't be that he had been pointed to the wrong building. Danny wanted to find her to, he wouldn't point him in the wrong direction. He got off his motorcycle and looked around. This was facility 6, so there had to be another building that would be building B. But there was only one building. Well, there was a tiny shed, but other than that there was nothing for miles but rocks and woods. Wait a minute.

The shed. It was too tiny to contain anything of importance, but it had large doors like those of an elevator. Building B. That had to be it. With large steps he walked towards the doors. On the right of it there was a panel to enter the access code. Logan took one look at it and jammed a set of claws through it. A camera was revealed, but Logan paid it no mind as his claws went straight through the doors, opening the way for him.

Down in the room where the people were watching Alex Kim gave the signal to stop the sound: 'The scan is complete. Add it to the other files and sent it away.' A few scientists nodded and all started running around with paperwork, flash drives and equipment. Kim didn't pay any attention to it. She now wore a lab coat over the maid outfit and her hair was done up in bun giving her immediately a stricter look. A few soldiers were still standing still in the room and Kim turned to them.

'The subject has served her purpose,' she threw a disinterested look at the pathetic pile of human that was Alex. 'Clean her up.'

'Yes, Ma'am.' They saluted, but the moment they turned around they heard it. The alarm. Perimeter breech. How was this possible? There was no time left.

'You, go finish off the girl. And you three, take all other soldiers and stop the intruder,' Kim ordered the soldiers before turning to the scientists. 'And you. There's no time for sending a hard copy. Send the digital information to the webmaster. Then evacuate.' She spun on her heels and marched away.

A sum total of twelve soldiers found Logan in the one was corridor that was a gradual slope down. He had been right. This was the right place. Facility 6B. He would find her here.

'Stop right there,' one of the intruders called, but Logan didn't care. He was too close now to be stopped by anything. Not twelve soldiers, not two cure guns, not a thousand bullets would keep him from Alex any longer. He roared loudly and launched himself at the closest soldier with a cure gun and broke it in half before using the soldier himself as a shield for the second cure gun shot. Six bullets bore into his back, but he ignored it as he put a set of claws through his human shield before jumping at the second cure gun carrier with claws out. But the rain of bullets sent at him brought him of course just to far to destroy the gun and kill the soldier at once. The tip of his claws touched the gun and it flew out of the soldier's hands on the ground. Logan groaned in the pain of the bullets and grabbed the soldier to use again as a human shield. He put a claw through the soldiers back to end his life and then moved to destroy the cure gun.

Two down, ten more to go. He took a short breath and the last bullet wound healed just as he dropped his human shield and faced the group of ten soldiers who had stopped firing in amazement at what this man could do. But this gave Logan the window of opportunity he could very much use. A growl came out of his throat as he cut down two soldiers at once and a set of claws went through another soldier by the time they had readied their guns again. Logan was kept in place by a storm of bullets. It hurt, but he knew worse. He had to overcome it. For Alex. He cut through three of the closest guns, cut the throat of another soldier before taking down the three unarmed men. Three left. One fumbled and dropped his gun, but as soon as he did he started running back inside the facility. With a grimace Logan cut down the last two soldiers with a mighty slash before catching up with the final one and pinning him to the ground.

'The girl, where is she?'

'T-The lowest level. They sent someone to finish her off.'

'Thank you,' and Logan put his claws through the soldier before getting up and starting to run.

Danny's scream had alerted all teachers. For the time being he had been relocated to Storm's office so they could keep an eye on him. The sudden start of the alarm lights had brought Storm to call in Kitty, but as soon as Danny saw what was happening on the screen he screamed and all staff came running into the office.

"Personal alert, death countdown initiated. Eighty-five seconds." Danny was completely off the rockers and Kitty tried to calm him down, but with her own state being like that there wasn't much she could do. All they could do was stare at the screen that was counting down and pray that Logan would get there in time.

Logan had never run this fast in his life. He had been in his fair share amount of deadly situations, he had encountered more than many a man. But he couldn't remember ever having been this scared before. He finally reached a staircase and leapt over the railing to drop six floors down. The concrete cracked under his feet, but he bore with it as he stormed through the double iron doors that were keeping him in the stairwell. A dark grey corridor with a few rooms on it's right that remarkably resembled cells, turned to the left at the end. Logan paid no mind to what the hell there was around him, but stormed on and rounded the corner.

Danny's screen countdown reached forty-seven seconds. The corridor had a door on the left and the right, both open and both showing rooms full off equipment they had used to hurt and experiment on Alex. But the door at the end of the corridor was Logan's goal.

Twenty seconds.

The soldier turned around the moment Logan burst through the door, but before he could even properly realise what was going on Logan had jumped through the glass of the containment unit and tackled the soldier to the ground. There was no time for questions as Logan put his claws through the soldiers stomach. The light in his eyes immediately went out and Logan retracted his claws to check on Alex.

"Countdown aborted." Relieved sighs came from nearly everyone in Storm's office as they realised what this meant. Logan had been in time. With seven seconds left on the clock he had made it.

But Logan had no idea of this countdown. He fell on his knees next to Alex and carefully took her by her shoulders. Her expression was completely empty. She didn't respond to his presence and was completely limp. Her eyes seemed. Lifeless. Had she already been… dead? No, she was breathing and she had a pulse, but Logan felt like he was holding a life size doll of Alex. She was slightly bruised, but the injuries were slowly healing. Her t-shirt and underpants were covered in blood and vomit and dried crusts of blood were on the floor around her. What had they done to her.

'Lex?' That one word seemed to snap life back into Alex, but as her eyes focussed a piercing scream left her mouth. She trashed against his grip and crashed with her head against the ground as she escaped his grasp.

'Lex, Lex, it's okay. It's Logan.' She turned her face towards him.

'Logan,' she recognised him and flew into his arms. 'Logan! You came. You really came.' She buried her face in his jacket and Logan tightly held her in his arms.

'I'm here, it's going to be fine, kiddo.' She nodded against his chest, but didn't reply. She took in his familiar scent and finally seemed to be able to gain control of her thoughts again. She was safe at last. The silence was comfortable. Even her terrible headache wasn't bothering her at the moment. Logan was here. He wasn't going to betray her. She didn't know about anyone else, but Logan wouldn't betray her. She was safe with him. She could tell he really cared for her. And that was why it would all be fine as long as he was here.

'I missed you, dad,' she muttered. For a second Logan's eyes widened at what she said to him. Was she imagining her real father instead of him? But she took a deep breath and nuzzled closer to him and he knew she was talking about him. She was talking to him; her father.

A smile pulled at Logan's mouth as he put his hand on her hair and ruffled it lightly: 'I missed you too, kid.' A few more moments passed in silence before Alex finally let go of Logan a bit so she could look at him.

'Logan, my head hurts.'

'You have a headache?'

'Yes, its been getting worse. Tatiana needs to know.'

Logan nodded and pulled out the cell phone to call Storm who immediately picked up: 'Logan, how is she?'

'Alex is with me. She's safe, but the reason I'm calling is because she says she has a headache and Tatiana needs to know. Is she there?'

'She has a headache?' Tatiana exclaimed as she grabbed the phone from Storm. 'How bad is it? Is she also nauseous and dizzy? Can she see and hear properly? Can she stay awake?'

'It's terrible,' Alex had listened in on what Tatiana had said and was replying just loud enough for it to get across before Logan put the phone to her ear. 'I've been nauseous and dizzy for at least a few days. I still see and hear fine, though I've hallucinated. But staying awake has also been a problem for about four days.'

'Logan, you need to get her to Lincoln Hospital in New York. Make sure she doesn't hit her head, don't let her sleep and don't give her anything to eat or drink. I'll meet you there.' With that Tatiana hung up.

'What is going on?' Storm asked.

'The tumour has grown or spread. I'm not sure. But the hallucinations are very bad. At the Lincoln Hospital a friend of mine works. He specialises in mutation related illnesses. I'm sure he'll be able to do something. Her life is not in direct danger, but I have no idea what exactly is going on.' Tatiana prepared to leave and Storm nodded.

'Take Maze with you. You're going to need someone to keep Logan in check.' Tatiana nodded and left the office.

Logan put away the phone and helped Alex get up. She staggered a bit due to her dizziness, but she stood.

'Can you walk?'

'I think so,' Alex said. 'You're taking me to a hospital aren't you?'

'Yes, Tatiana said we needed to. You're going to have to sit on the back of my motorcycle though.'

'I think I can do that.'

'Wait, you need some clothes.'

'I think they have labcoats somewhere. There were so many people who wore one,' Alex shuddered at the memory.

'Hey, kid. No being scared now. It's over. Let's go.'

'Hai!'

'What?'

'I said okay,' Alex replied.

'Sure, let's just go.' Alex walked rather slow, but they did leave the building. Logan indeed found a labcoat that sort of fit Alex. It fell down to her ankles, and the sleeves went over her arms, but that was solved by rolling them up a bit. At least it would protect her from the cold on the motorcycle.

'You must have scared them,' Alex said as she looked around.

'Probably,' Logan looked around at the giant mess of papers.

'Nee, Logan. Do you think they'll have some information about me?' Logan walked a bit further as Alex buttoned the labcoat. A large pile of files had fallen on the floor, but on the desk was one perfectly straight folder remaining. "Webmaster" That name rang a bell, but he couldn't place is straight away. Nevertheless he picked up the file before walking over to Alex and taking her the last part of the way out of the building.

With her arms around Logan and her head against his back Logan started the motorcycle and they drove off. It was a long drive. Logan didn't fully understand what was going on, but he was sure that she was going to be fine. After all, they had been through too much already to have it fail again.

Alex was breathing slowly and tried to keep her mind of her headache that was getting worse with the landscape flying by at high speed. She didn't dare to close her eyes in fear of falling off. She turned her head so her forehead was touching Logan's back and this helped a bit. She was very tired, but if she fell asleep she would fall off and she couldn't have that. At least she was safe now. Safe from all those who tried to hurt her. At least for now. Alex didn't look forward to the hospital at all.

Truth to be told, the thought of what they could possibly do to her scared her a lot. But Logan was with her. Logan was with her and nothing could possibly go wrong now.

'Nee, Logan. Anata wa watashi o mamotte kureru?'

'What?' Logan yelled back. He probably hadn't heard her because of the wind.

'Nandemo naiyo.'

Logan hadn't missed a word. He had heard exactly what she had said. Every single syllable. She didn't even notice. Alex was losing her grip on the present. It was messing with her head, the tumour was. She couldn't even speak to him normally. He had heard just enough japanese in his life to recognise it as such. What exactly she had said was still a mystery to him, but it was important to her. He couldn't do anything to help her right now, but take her to the hospital and have Tatiana look at her.

Hours later Logan pulled up on the pedestrian area of the hospital. People yelled at him for being so reckless and disruptive, but Logan ignored it. He helped Alex of the back, but her knees immediately gave away and she fell to her knees. The yelling stopped and people came to check on them, but Alex was already getting up again.

'Are you okay?'

'Um, daijobe desu,' Alex nodded, but Logan saw that she was still very unstable and the continuing Japanese worried him, but he couldn't tell her that. She must have said something along the lines of her being fine. She would have to do a lot more before he would believe that.

'Quit being stubborn. You're not fine. Now take my hand and we'll find Tatiana.'

'Demo-!'

'No, but's Lex. Give me your hand.'

'Hai, otousan.' Finally she complied and it was most necessary. Alex was exhausted and she swayed with nearly every step. She nearly fell three times, but Logan caught her before she truly fell. He told her he was going to carry her, but Alex replied in firm Japanese. He had absolutely no idea what she said, so he just replied to what he thought she said and let her walk.

When they had finally reached the reception Tatiana came running at them: 'Logan, Alex. You made it.'

'It's getting worse, Tatiana,' Logan immediately said earning him a confused look from Alex.

'Worse? What do you mean?'

'Ask her,' Logan nodded at Alex who was still as confused as ever.

'Ano, daijoubu. Wakara-.'

'She doesn't even realise it,' Logan interupted.

'Ano,' Alex tried to cut in but Tatiana was first.

'This is peculiar, I've never heard of anything like this. We'll need to have this looked at straight away. I'll take you to Stephen.'

'Matte!' Alex yelled. 'Nani goto? Daijobu desu. Nani-.'

'No, Alex, you're not fine! You've got a tumour at least the size of a golfball in your brain and right now I have no idea what you're saying because you're speaking Japanese! This is serious. Alex eyes grew wide as she realised it. How had she not noticed she had been speaking Japanese. She wasn't even particularly good at Japanese, or English for that matter. What was wrong with her?

'Logan, tasukete kudasai.' She clung tightly to his arm and Logan nodded as he picked her up.

'Let's go, Tatiana.' Tatiana hurried off and Logan went after her. Alex closed her eyes or nausea and dizziness combined would overwhelm her. The hospital corridors passed by in a blur. The lights and the white were too bright for her eyes, and the sound of people surprised at them passing by were causing a constant buzz in her already hurting ears. She squinted her eyes in an attempt to block it all out, but it didn't help much. The headache was as terrible as before, but the fear was worse. She didn't know what was coming or how bad it would be and she couldn't even fight herself. Her enemy fought a war she barely understood.

Logan put her on a hospital bed and an unfamiliar face appeared in her view: 'Alex, I'm Stephen. I'm going to be helping you. We'll make an ultrasound scan first, okay?' Alex didn't respond, but her eyes frantically searched for Logan. He stood at her feet and nodded, so Alex copied his movement. Tatiana and Stephen rolled her into a machine. It made a lot of noise as it started up, but then it went silent for a few seconds and Alex got a very bad feeling. She couldn't explain it, but she knew something bad was about to happen.

'Dame,' but at that moment the scan started. It was exactly the same sound and Alex screamed for it to stop: 'Iie! Iie! Yamero! Yamero!' Logan immediately went into action and pulled her off the bed into his arms. Stephen shut down the machine as fast as possible while Logan tried to console Alex who was clamping her ears as the tears ran down her cheeks.

'There has to be another way,' Tatiana said.

'Sure, we'll do an x-ray with contrasting fluid, that should give us enough information,' Stephen concluded and walked away to set everything up.

'We'll go to another room,' Tatiana said. Logan nodded and was about to pick Alex up again when suddenly Maze burst into the room.

'There you are,' he walked over to Tatiana before continuing. 'Storm knows about it now. She's given me until the end of tomorrow to stay here, then I'm needed back at the mansion. You can stay here as long as is needed. Rogue is going to take over for the time being and if there is a real emergency they'll sent them to a hospital.'

'That's good Maze. We're just about to move Alex.'

'Alex, it's good to have you back.'

'Sensei,' Alex smiled.

'What?' Maze sent Logan a look.

'She's speaking Japanese. I have no idea what she's saying. It's probably something ado with the tumour,' Logan explained. 'We're figuring out what's going on now.'

'Great, let's go.' They refrained from picking her up and instead moved the bed through the corridor. At the end of the hall there was a single room that wasn't completely white. It had a sky blue ceiling and grey walls. This was Stephen's office. It had X-ray equipment and an adjoining operating theatre. Stephen apparently had made quite a name for himself in his specialisation. He appeared from the operating theatre with a syringe containing contrasting fluid. And walked over to Alex.

'This is only going to hurt for a bit,' he said, but Alex' eyes grew wide and she panicked. Not the needle. Not the needles again. She couldn't. She screamed and trashed. Logan pushed him away and grabbed Alex by her shoulders.

'Lex, Lex, it's alright,' but Alex was still losing it and she seemed to be unresponsive to Logan's attempts to calm her down.

'Alex, no one is going to use the needle okay. We'll wait for you to be ready, okay?' This seemed to get through to Alex and she calmed down and nodded. Maze helped her to a sitting position and made eye contact with her: 'Okay, now I need you to focus really well. Can you do that? I cannot understand you if you don't speak English. Can you try?'

'Isshokenmei ganbarimasu,' she quickly clapped her hands over her mouth and a frown of concentration formed on her forehead. 'I mean, I'll try my best.'

'Okay, very good,' Maze said. 'Now, why are you afraid of the needle? What happened that you're afraid of it?' Alex gulped and searched for support in Logan's presence. He nodded and that gave her the courage to delve into her memories.

'T-they,' she struggled with the English for a moment, but as soon as she got started it went better. 'They took blood and hurt me. They wanted to put it through my eye to make me talk.'

'Alex, you're safe now,' Tatiana said.

'We are not going to hurt you,' Maze confirmed.

'And even if they were, I'd protect you, okay, kid?' Logan's words were the consolation Alex needed and she nodded. Still a little weary of the syringe she took a deep breath before turning to Logan once more.

'Ano,' back to Japanese she knew he wouldn't understand so she help out her hand to him. Logan raised his eyebrow for a moment, but when he saw the frightened look on her face he gave in and took her small hand in his. Alex smiled in relief and never averted her eyes from his face as Stephen took her arm again. She flinched as he put the needle in her arm and she squeezed Logan's hand. Panic was clear on her features, but she didn't crack. It was strange how proud Logan felt of her for this small thing. When Stephen was done she let go of his hand and they had to wait for the fluid to spread through her body. Stephen performed some smaller tests on her. Her vision had slightly lessened and her hearing was definitely damaged in some way. The dizziness and nausea were stronger due to her fatigue, but nevertheless serious cause of concern.

Maze kept Alex distracted by playing nonverbal games with her. Logan sat in a chair in the corner and watched her. One moment she seemed a complete adult in the way she behaved, at other times her appearance would be that of a ten to twelve year old girl, because her physical growth hadn't been that great. But when she was weak it was almost as if she had stopped growing up entirely at the age of five. As if she was stuck there forever. She could smile about the tiniest little things when she discovered them, she would cry and call for him, seeking safety and comfort. She was definitely most interesting, but he wasn't sure if he could really take care of her if she remained like this. He would definitely need help. Rogue had definitely proved so to him.

After quite some time had gone by Stephen told them the machine was ready. Within a few minutes they were entirely done with the images and Stephen and Tatiana went to look at the pictures. Maze, Alex and Logan sat quietly awaiting the judgement.

'It hasn't spread to her body, but her brain…' Stephen clicked on something and Tatiana gasped.

'This is very bad. It used to be a single one about this size,' she indicated something on the screen.

'It was probably insulated, but something might have torn it. Also, I don't know what caused it to grow this fast, but this definitely didn't happen naturally,' Stephen concluded. 'It explains everything, but the Japanese. It doesn't seem to affect her language centre. However, I am surprised that that she doesn't show more cognitive problems, that tumour is all over her brain.'

'Can you perform surgery on her?'

'It will need to happen quickly, before she loses functions of her body. But if her healing abilities are indeed as amazing as you said they are, then, yes.'

'Nani desu ka?' Alex asked, but no one had any idea what she was saying and so she was ignored.

'There's no risk?' Logan asked.

'She might lose a few memories, but it's either that or her life,' Stephen explained. Alex sent a very concerned look at Logan and nodded. Of course he understood that. She was ready, terrified, but ready.

'I'll call a few colleagues to help me. We're going to need it. For now I'd like all three of you to leave so I can prepare her for surgery.'

'Iie!' Alex called out. 'Otousan-.' But then she noticed they wouldn't understand her if she spoke Japanese so she grabbed his wrist to show what she meant: 'Hitori ni shinaide!' The words meant very little to Logan, but he understood what she wanted.

'Don't worry, kid. I won't leave you.'

'Fine, you can stay until she's asleep, but that's it,' then he turned to his phone to call colleagues. Within minutes the other surgeons were present and Alex was given the narcotic. Logan very clearly noticed how she was shaking, but as tired as she was the narcotic kicked in before the estimated time and she was sound asleep. Tatiana had given proper instructions concerning the needed amount and this time Logan was sure Alex wouldn't notice a thing of the surgery. As soon as he was assured of that he went to join Tatiana and Maze.

And that way the surgery commenced. Alex was on a constant drip giving her the narcotic to assure it would never leave her body too early. There was nothing for them to do but wait. Hours passed and Maze was called by Storm twice with the request for a status update on Alex. But there wasn't much to tell. Finally, after nearly six hours Stephen and the other surgeons came from the room. All looked very tired. The tension was rising high as all braced themselves for anything that might come.

'We removed the tumours and I'm positive all cancer cells were removed. There was very little tissue damage and from what I've now experienced first hand she will definitely have that returned. She might be very disorientated the first days and not recognise where she is or who you are, but that will return very soon.'

'Is she awake?' Tatiana asked.

'She should awake in a few minutes. We'd like you to do the tests, Tatiana. Since she might find a person she recognises in you. Is that okay?'

Tatiana nodded and turned to Logan and Maze: 'I'll come and get you when I'm done, okay?' The two men nodded and with that the two were left alone.

'Do you think she'll be very different?' Maze asked.

'I don't know,' Logan grunted.

'After all, we've only known her while she already had the tumour. Who knows how different her character was before that. Maybe she'll have forgotten all about us.'

'Just shut up,' Logan snapped.

'Sorry, I get it. We're both worried. You're probably even more worried than I am.' And with that silence fell between them as they waited for the sign to go to Alex.


	20. Who

**Who? **

_With people she didn't recognise_

Alex blinked after the nurse turned off the light she had just used to test Alex' pupil reflex. All reflexes, senses and muscles had been tested and everything seemed fine. Nevertheless the expression on the nurse's face was far from happy, more disappointed. Alex didn't really understand it. After all she seemed to be recovering fine. Her tumour had been removed according to the nurse and she would be completely fine. It would hopefully also make sure all her memories would return to her. Alex seriously doubted it, after all, how could her healing powers have so dramatically increased. She had hardly survived the torture in Russia. How was she supposed to restore parts of her brain?

There were some huge gaps in her memory, that was clear. After all, she was very unclear on what exactly had happened in the past few months. She remembered being safe, but she didn't know how or where. She had stayed in a place of which she couldn't remember the physical appearance. She couldn't remember the people who had been there. There was just… her protector. His name slipped her mind at the moment, but she was sure it would return to her any moment. She remembered him being there for her, comforting her, and just being there with her. He had become a most important person to her and she viewed him as one of the two people she could trust in this world. After all, there were so very few people she knew.

The nurse was going over another test with her, but Alex didn't really feel like cooperating. She didn't like this nurse. The nurse seemed to know her better than she led on and Alex didn't like it. She didn't trust this woman who was keeping things from her. She knew Logan to be here and she really wanted him to come in. He would definitely tell her what the situation was and how she was supposed to act on this. She would have to move forward soon.

'Ano… Doko Logan desu ka? I mean, where's Logan?'

'He's still waiting for me to finish up. When I'm done I'll get him.'

'Demo, you've already done this test.'

'I have to do it again.'

'I don't want you to do it again, where is Logan?'

'Just sit still.'

'IIe!' Alex fist formed a solid diamond knout and she hit the nurse square in the chest. The nurse flew back against the wall and seemed dazed for a moment, but then got up and pulled out a syringe. Alex eyes grew wide as she recognised the liquid in it. It was the topaz colour of the cure.

'Iya!' At full speed she charged at the nurse and slammed her again into the wall. She pulled all needles and tubes from her body in a panic. What were they doing to her? They were out to hurt her again. Like they had only a few days ago. They wanted to know everything. These people were really bad. She had to get away. In her dirty white shirt and underpants she broke straight through the door of the room and burst into the corridor.

'Logan!' She almost jumped into his arms.

'Lex!' Logan lifted Alex of the ground in an uncharacteristically loving hug.

'Are you okay?' a second man asked and Alex looked up as Logan put her down on the ground.

'Yes, I'm fine.' But she was a bit hesitant. Why did this man want to know how she was. She must have known him, but she couldn't place it.

'That's good,' but at that moment the nurse came out of the room she had just been in. She was holding the syringe and ran over to the mystery man.

'Logan, hold her still!'

'You know them?!' Alex exclaimed at Logan.

'Yes, and you do too,' Logan said. 'That's Tatiana and Maze. Tatiana takes care of you when you're injured and Maze taught you how to use a sword.' Something flashed through Alex mind, but it went far too fast for Alex to be able to place it.

'She's trying to give me the cure.'

'No, she's not, Alex. She takes care of you, why would she give you the cure?'

'I recognised it! If she gives me that I'll die!'

'Listen, Alex, I will not let anyone hurt you, but you can trust them.' Alex stepped away from him. There was something wrong. Why wasn't he trying to protect her? She had seen with her own two eyes that the liquid in that syringe was the cure. Was she being betrayed. Betrayed again? The feelings for these people were still present from the past. She looked up to Maze, she liked him, but she didn't remember him. Tatiana she felt suspicious about, always had and still did. The only person she remembered in this situation was Logan, and he was acting differently than what she expected. She was left with no choice. She had to get out and fast. Logan noticed the plasma grenade growing in her hand too late and she had already thrown it at Maze and Tatiana and the two were thrown back into the corridor by the force of the blast.

'Alex!' Logan called, but Alex didn't regret her actions one bit, they were supposed to wake him up, but if they didn't then she was left with no choice.

'Sorry, Logan,' her diamond fist collided with his stomach and he was thrown back as well. Knowing Logan to be as good as indestructible she would need a lot more force was she to gain some distance on him and she threw another plasma grenade after it before taking off. She ran down the stairs and ignored the looks people were giving her as she ran by in her downright unusual attire. She had to get away. Going at high speed was not possible with so many people in here. She was not good enough yet to do that. She rounded the corner and reached the reception, but then someone grabbed her wrist and pulled her back, making her fall on the ground. Immediately Alex rolled over and recognised her enemy, it was Maze, but his physical appearance flickered. What was-? Then the entire façade fell and Alex came face to face with an enemy she thought she had ended long ago.

'You!'

'Didn't know I had that power too, did you?' Alex jumped away from his bit knowing it was poisonous.

'You, I'm going to kill you!'Her diamond skin was pulled up and around her she heard people gasp, but she blocked all surprised reactions out and launched herself at the lizard man who had killed her father back then. He was taken by surprise and she worked him to the ground with ease as she repeatedly hit the lizard in his face with the diamond knuckles.

'Alex!' Suddenly came and she looked up, rage in her eyes. Logan was there.

'He was not who he said he was!' Alex yelled at him.

'Alex, we have to get out of here, there'll be more of them!'

'You're right!' Alex sped over to him and grabbed his wrist. 'Let's go!' She pulled Logan along. She was definitely going to fast for him, because he was holding her back quite a bit. But she managed to speed them up quite a lot.

'I will not let you go!' Alex turned around and screamed. The claws of the Lizard man had sunk into Logan's shoulder and he staggered. Rage took over and with all power she had she hit the Lizard man square in his face. He was thrown all the way across the entrance hall against the wall on the other side where he fell to the floor. However, she had also grazed Logan and he was now down on his knees.

'Dad!' She knelt next to him and wanted to say something but he was first.

'Lex, you have to get out of here. Take the bike and go east until you reach Parsippany. At the Hampton inn someone will be waiting to pick you up. I'm sorry, Lexa.' Just the use of that name was enough to bring Alex into a state of despair. Only her real father had called her that before. But the emotion was crushed out of her body as Alex screamed.

'No!'Logan dropped to the floor and suddenly Alex' surroundings came crashing back to her. She had to get out of here and follow Logan's advice. She had to. There were no other options open. Her skin still formed of the sharp and shiny diamonds she raced outside and jumped on the bike. She hadn't really done anything like this before, but Logan had taught her how to use the bike and she was going to put it to good use.

With roaring engine she rode off the parking area and onto the highways to get across the Hudson river and to her new destination. She had been betrayed again. Her mind was still fragile and fractured but she knew these people had been nice to her. They had tricked her and Logan. And that was how she lost him. Tears were threatening again, but she pushed them back. She couldn't let herself be weak again. She would have to follow Logan's instructions to get to safety first.

She was done with it. She had been chased all over the world, had hidden from everyone, she had held herself in and been abused more times than she could count. She had to put an end to all of this soon. She had seen faces. This time she was not going to run anymore. She was going to prepare and she was going to fight. With or without her father's support, with or without Logan, she would put an end to this. If it was at the cost her life, then so be it.

'Mou ii yo,' it was enough. She was done with it and with that she accelerated and zoomed across the George Washington bridge. No one was going to hold her back this time. She was going to fight the war she had become the centre of.

Parsippany was located directly against the highway and she had very little trouble finding the inn Logan had mentioned. She put the motorcycle in a parking space and walked inside through the front door. The receptionist came at her and started talking to her, but Alex wasn't paying attention as she suddenly noticed someone standing up from one of the seats in the lobby.

'Hello, Alex.'

'Arania-san!' Alex ran at the woman and embraced her.

'I know, Alex. I know,' Arania gently patted the girl's head. 'I'm so sorry for you.'

'He told me to come here. We were betrayed.'

'I know, Alex. I've seen it all already. Your thoughts were strong enough to be felt by any telepath in a two mile radius. But don't worry, we'll get through this. I promise you that.'

'Arania-san. I don't want to hide anymore. I want to end this. I want to fight them and end this all. No one else is to die because of me anymore.' Arania gave Alex a long look that Alex couldn't really read. The receptionist had given up and had returned to her desk. Apart from them the lobby was completely deserted, but even if it had been filled with people Alex would not have felt bothered by it. She was ready this time. It was enough, she was going to take matters in her own hands now.

'I expected you would say that,' Arania said. 'But you are currently in no state to fight. You'll need to train to recover to your previous strength.'

'How am I supposed to do that?' Alex asked.

'You're not the only one who wants to end this war,' Arania smiled and took to the elevator. Alex was kind of surprised, but complied. They got off at the top floor and walked onto the corridor. All doors were open and Alex found it all rather suspicious.

'Everyone, come and meet our final member Alexandra Darvis.' From nearly all doors in the corridor came a teenager. Seven boys and four girls all clad in some sort of uniform. Alex didn't like all the attention suddenly being on her and she was very glad when Arania decided to talk again.

'Everyone, this is Alex. She'll be joining the team as well. Be nice to her, she just came from the hospital. Where she lost her second father.'

'Second father?' a Caucasian boy asked. 'Lucky you!'

'Lucky, Aron? She just lost him!' a girl whacked him over the head. 'Can't you be a little more sensitive?' This girl had an Indian appearance.

'How old are you?' a very blond girl asked, she seemed to be the oldest of the group, apart from one boy with nearly white hair.

'Thirteen.'

'Wow, that was when I got my first power!' another boy said. 'What level are you?'

'3.5.' Alex sent a sceptical look at Arania who nodded that she was doing well.

'A 3.5, huh? Arania-san, why did you call her here? All of us are level 4. This is no playground,' said the white haired boy coolly, but still quite arrogantly.

'Because, Marcus, all of you have one power with the exception of you having two. Alex here has eight out of which two are level four. The only reason she is not up to level four yet is because of the sheer quantity of powers she has to master. She is possibly the strongest fighter of all of you.'

'I don't believe that,' Marcus said firmly.

'Then do you want to test it?' Alex growled.

'Alex, you just came out of the hospital-.'

'Doesn't matter.'

'You still need to recover.'

'I may not be at full strength, but that is not going to stop me from beating this dude to pulp,' Alex bit back before turning to the brute. 'You, I'll see you in the parking lot.' And with that Alex raced off at high speed.

'Power one, speed level 2,' Marcus said as he leisurely walked after her.

'Marcus,' Arania said. 'Please, don't underestimate her.'

'I think it is the other way around.'

'No, don't underestimate her. She can kill you in a heartbeat if you do.' Marcus huffed and with that walked over to the elevator. Arania sighed, but she and all other teenagers went downstairs to the parking lot. Alex stood there already waiting for them.

'I hope Arania- san gave you a proper warning,' she taunted.

'You don't even know what my power is,' Marcus replied.

'Don't need to know. I can beat you with an arm on my back.'

'Don't hold back on me.'

'Oh, trust me. I've got a lot of stress to deal with and beating you up is going to do me a lot of good.' This went too far for Marcus and he charged. Literally charged. Sparks ran over his entire body and Alex rolled out of the way just soon enough to not be struck by his lightning.

'You're good, I admit,' another bolt of lightning missed as she was out of the way fast enough, 'but I've seen better.' He charged again, but in the window of time that he gave Alex with that she sped at him and hit him hard in the stomach with her diamond shoulder before turning moving away again and looking at him tauntingly.

'Okay, kid gloves are coming off now.' Metal all around them started rattling and within seconds he was completely surrounded by a cloud of metal objects.

'I dare you,' Alex grinned and with that Marcus started throwing. Alex immediately turned invisible and sprinted between all objects. It was too easy. She started spinning around him and he tried to hit her with his metal objects, but instead she seemed to be delivering blows to him. There was no diamond fist, but they were hard because of the speed and he couldn't see them coming. Finally she jumped and turned visible. He turned around just in time to see her turn into diamond form before she knocked him out with a blow to his head. All metal parts fell to the ground and Alex crossed her arms over her chest as she dropped her diamond skin.

'Anyone else have a problem with me?'

'That was amazing!' One of the boys exclaimed.

'You really just came from the hospital?' one of the girls asked.

'Yes, which is why you'll be taking things a bit slower from now on Alex,' Arania said as she revived Marcus with a light shake.

'That was me taking it slow. I didn't even use my plasma grenade!'

'You know what I mean,' Arania said before turning to the entire group. 'Okay, now that we have the entire team, we'll be going to our basis for the next weeks. There we'll be training for the confrontation.'

'Yes, ma'am!' all said in unison and Alex raised one eyebrow at the army attitude, but she didn't dislike it. At last someone would help her to enter battle and fight for her future. She wasn't alone in this after all. But when it came to it, she also would be able to chose her own life over the lives of these people. It was a good thing. She could put herself in the first place this time. She was not going to show mercy or compassion anymore. They would all fall before her feet.

Late that night Alex woke up from her dream. No, it wasn't a dream. It was memories. Memories of people, memories of a lot of pain. They were very vague, but Alex now knew who she had been betrayed by. She also knew there were more. She had been at some sort of school. She had made friends among students and teachers, but right now she couldn't trust any of them. They had betrayed her by killing Logan. It was too clear now. She wasn't going to any of them ever again. There was only one person left on this world that she trusted and that was Arania-san. Whatever they were going to do to her, she wouldn't fall for it again.

And so the next morning Alex was provided with a uniform and proper food. She didn't like the uniform. It hindered her movements, but at the moment she couldn't complain. Her own clothes had been taken from her in the facility. She would have to tell Arania before the battle though. Arania told them to rest on the day of the move. The six hour drive made sure of Alex having enough to do, but once they had reached their destination this was getting more difficult. It was the building of a small school that had been turned into a hotel and then been abandoned due to there being asbestos in the ceilings and walls. There was a track court outside and various arrangements for them to use for training as well as luxurious accommodation.

Alex felt out of place. Despite her uniform, her appearance was still completely dishelved and dirty. Also, she just couldn't get used to the grandeur of this. How could Arania-san have afforded this? It was huge. In Japan she hadn't had much, how had she suddenly gotten all this money? But Arania-san had her hands full at handling all of them and so Alex didn't ask. Instead she went to her room and let herself be bored for the rest of the evening. They were quite fortunate, she had to admit that. This place was better equipped than her previous safe house, wherever that had been. She felt uncomfortable with the gaps in her memory still being there, but without anything to trigger it, she suspected she wouldn't be getting them back anytime soon.

She was glad though that all her powers still seemed to work, although she wasn't sure about her telepathy since that was completely passive. Her telekinesis seemed to have gotten the tiniest bit stronger as Alex found herself able to lift her knife and steer it somewhat. She spent most of the day improving her aim from her spot on the bed. One of the girls came to get her for food at some point and Alex complied, but it wasn't until the next day that things really got interesting.

Arania-san announced they would be starting training. All were pointed at specific points to train and Alex got the impression that most of them had been working with her for much longer. Alex herself was ordered to use today as a warm up for real training. As frustrating as this was, she did follow the order and tested all of her abilities. She trained her aim and Arania was most pleased about her progress. In the days that followed Alex' training regime was upped every day until she and the other could start training jointly.

It was amazing how far Alex was ahead of the other simply because she could use so many powers. Any lack of strength, physical growth or whatever she made up for completely with one of her powers. She truly was the new and improved generation. It took five of them to take her down, despite the fact that they were really strong. All of them had completely mastered their powers, something she still had to do.

Marcus' electrokinesis was in a form that was so far evolved it could only just be considered a level four. The sheer control he had over magnetic fields allowed him to not just create lightning. He could contain and control it to perfection. He could move anything made of metal, and detect it just by the way the magnetic fields were somewhere. Next to that he also had level 2 indestructability. The blonde, who was called Victoria, was a master at voice manipulation. As a level 4 Siren she couldn't just produce a scream so loud it literally tore eardrums, but also manipulate her voice to produce any sound she wanted. After having heard something she could completely analyse it and repeat it. She knew every bit of the physics about it and used it to her advantage.

All of them had achieved absolute perfection of their mutation. Alex was far from achieving that level of perfection, especially since she didn't understand a single thing about physics. What she did understand though, was how to use her powers. With the help from Victoria she went over the basic principles of her powers and so created an general view for Victoria on how Alex' powers worked. Victoria tried to map out the physics behind them, but found it particularly hard to figure out exactly what was going on and how to manipulate it. After all, Alex' descriptions were particularly vague. Sometimes Arania could give some pointers and Alex was surprised at how knowledgeable she was about her powers.

However, it didn't really help Alex improve since she couldn't put anything they found into practise. With a complete lack of education she was just too far behind the other teenagers and they were glad this was the case or they would have nearly been expendable. And so all of them worked hard together as a team to improve and face their final battle that was upcoming faster and faster as they made more and more progress.

What didn't happen, though, was a bond of trust forming. Maybe it was Alex' state of mind, but around them she was constantly watching her back in fear of getting a knife in it. She trusted Arania and that was the only reason she slept at night. They all were exceptionally strong outcasts, but they had nothing in common accept for Arania and it made Alex uneasy. She remembered it being different at her previous safe house. Even if they had been attacked on her very first night there, these people she hadn't known at all had fought alongside her. They had watched her kill someone and still felt sorry for her.

No, she shouldn't be thinking that now. They had abandoned and rejected her after all. She shouldn't be reminiscing about the good things. She would do that when every single one of her enemies was dead. Then she could lament their deaths with all of the others as she would finally have the peace to do so. First the threat had to be ended and whoever these people were, although she didn't know their names or faces, they would learn hers and she would make them suffer.


	21. Wide Awake

**Wide awake**

_With the X-men_

The phone ringing in Storm's office came as a relief. Finally she would get an update about how Alex was doing. Maze had called her to tell her that Alex had survived the operation, but there were still so many things that could be wrong. All day she had been playing the messenger to everyone. It had come to the point where they had cancelled all classes around noon so it was less demanding on the already understaffed teachers. Rogue did her best to keep up with everything, but she could hardly be both Tatiana and herself. Fortunately Belamie had taken over the cooking while the other teachers were watching the students, but classes had become impossible. So Storm was desperately hoping for good news.

'Hello?'

'Storm, thank god. It's a complete madhouse here.' That was definitely not good news.

'Tatiana? What is going on?'

'It's Alex, she didn't recognise any of us, except for Logan. She hit me and Maze with a plasma grenade. Oh, god, Maze!' Tatiana saw her friend laying passed out against the wall. He had managed to catch himself a bit with his telekinesis, but it wasn't enough to fully stop him and he had hit his head against the wall.

'Tatiana?'

'He's okay, just passed out. There's no blood. He must have gotten up before I did and chased her. Alex didn't recognise us, but there was more wrong with her. She was certain I was administering the cure to her, and she wouldn't even believe Logan. I don't know what happened after that, but… Ah!'

'Tatiana? Tatiana!' But Tatiana had dropped her phone and ran over to Logan, who was lying on his stomach on the floor.

'Logan, Logan!' There were six large knives sticking out of his back, but he did respond to her calling his name. She started pulling them out carefully, one by one. Who could have possibly done this? It couldn't have been, Alex, could it? Finally Logan woke up.

'Lex-,' he began, but he didn't finish his sentence.

'Logan, what happened?' Logan suddenly snapped back into focus.

'Storm, we need to call Storm.'

'I have her on the phone,' Tatiana quickly retrieved it and passed it on to Logan.

'Tatiana!' Storm had no idea what had happened and she was now panicking.

'It's Logan,' came the gruffy voice from the other side. Storm released a breath of relief.

'Thank the Lord, you're okay. What happened?'

'Alex happened. She knocked all of us out and nearly killed Maze.'

'Where is she? Is she okay?'

'I don't know, she's completely out of it. Didn't recognise any of us.'

'What happened?'

'She came from the surgery running away from Tatiana.

_Alex came running at Logan and he released a sigh of relief at seeing she was fine, Tatiana had been taking her sweet time. 'Logan!' _

'_Lex!' he held her tightly. Never had he been more scared of losing her. He hadn't even been able to see her this time. He had seen her fighting for her life, but this was different, this was so very different. And as Maze had said, he was terrified she wouldn't recognise him anymore. Fortunately she did._

'_Are you okay?' Maze asked after Logan had put Alex back on her feet._

'_Yes, I'm fine,' but Logan could see there was something off. She was different._

'_That's good,' Maze said with a smile. Tatiana came out of the surgery room. She was looking slightly dishelved as she ran over to Maze._

'_Logan, hold her still!' Logan didn't understand why, but a few words from Alex explained everything._

'_You know them?!' She seemed most shocked at this. He had to help her. She would never trust them again if he didn't explain this to her right away._

'_Yes, and you do too,' he explained. 'That's Tatiana and Maze. Tatiana takes care of you when you're injured and Maze taught you how to use a sword.' He could see some flickering of a memory in her eyes, but it was gone before he could properly see it. _

'_She's trying to give me the cure.' Wait, what? Logan's eyes flicked over at the syringe that Tatiana was holding. A light blue liquid was in it. How could Alex think that this was the cure? _

'_No, she's not, Alex. She takes care of you, why would she give you the cure?'_

'_I recognised it! If she gives me that I'll die!' It was true that the cure could kill Alex at the moment. With her kind of injuries and level of healing powers she would not have been alive without her mutation. But there was definitely something wrong with Alex at the moment. He would have to play the one angle she would be able to believe, him. That was the only point she believed right now and he couldn't do anything but reassure her. _

'_Listen, Alex, I will not let anyone hurt you, but you can trust them.' But even this didn't reach Alex as she took a step away. She was scared and he had just something wrong. He was about to say something, but the look in her eyes showed him she was not going to buy anything at this moment. She didn't trust him. Suddenly she snapped and he couldn't stop her before she threw a plasma grenade at Maze and Tatiana._

'_Alex!' but when she turned back to him he knew that it was over as the Japanese apology rolled over her tongue._

'_Gomen ne, Logan,' and with that her diamond fist collided with his stomach and he was thrown back against the wall. He tried to get up, but at that moment he was slammed against the wall again with one of her plasma grenades and he lost consciousness for a moment. When he came to again he saw Maze run down the stairs. Immediately he went after him and raced down the stairs. He watched Maze and Alex on the ground. Alex was the first one to get up, and he saw the anger form on her face._

'_Omai!'_

'_Alex, stop this! You need to get back, you're not healthy,' but Alex jumped away from him._

'_Omai, omai koroshite iru!' Everyone in the lobby gasped as she tackled Maze to the ground. Logan pushed himself as hard as he could to get to her as Maze was starting to bleed severely. _

'_Alex!' The rage was only getting worse as she looked at him. She was trapped in Japanese again and he had no idea what she yelled at him. But there was more wrong than just her speaking Japanese. She wasn't responding to anything they said. She was not at all realising how severe her condition was. She was fighting a battle and somehow they had turned into her enemies. It was even different from when he had met her. She was completely exposed. _

'_Alex, we have to get back, you need to calm down!' This seemed to reach Alex._

'_Sou desu ne,' within a second she stood in front of him, but then it became clear she had no intention of coming with him. It was the opposite as the grabbed his wrist: 'Ikimashou!' Logan could barely hold them back. Her speed was dragging him forward, despite the fact that he was a lot stronger. _

_But at that point Maze grabbed his shoulder: 'Get back to the room right now!' Alex turned around and screamed. Sparks running all over her body and her arm becoming pure diamond, Logan knew what was going to happen, but before he could warn Maze she had already struck. Never had she hit that hard. Maze was propelled to the other side of the lobby and even Logan was brought down to his knees with her only grazing his shoulder. And then something hit his back._

'_Otousan!' By now he knew that she was addressing him with this and she wanted to speak further, but he stopped her without getting up since she was kneeling next to him._

'_Lex, you're ill. Your mind is foggy and you're doing things you normally wouldn't do. But we can help you, we can make you better. You just need to remember.' Tears were welling up in her eyes and he thought had finally gotten through to her when he felt something sharp in his back. A second one. Knives? A third and fourth? Someone was throwing knives? Two more knives and Logan was struggling to stay conscious, they had hit deep._

'_Iie!' Alex screamed as his body hit the ground. But she got herself together quickly as she turned and ran outside at mutant speed. He just saw a glimpse of a blond haired woman leaving right after her before he lost consciousness._

'After that I think she got on my motorcycle, but I have no idea where she would be heading.' Silence fell for a moment as Storm tried to get a hold of herself after having heard this. She put the phone to her chest for a second and took a deep breath. This was the hardest call she had had to make in a long time. She felt it aching in her heart and bursting in her eyes. A single tear escaped her eye and rolled down over her cheek as she closed her eyes for a second. She swallowed, took a deep breath and put the phone back against her ear.

'Logan, get Tatiana and Maze and get back to the mansion.'

'But what about Alex?!'

Still, Storm didn't budge and stayed firm: 'There is nothing we can do now. And you're needed here.'

'I'm not going to leave her! She needs us and she's all alone-.'

'She's not the only one who needs you!' It took Storm everything to not burst into tears as she was breaking her own heart with her actions. Never had she given up on a single mutant. Never had she left anyone behind. She had lost many, but never in a way like this. Never had she left them behind, told her friends to not go after someone. If it had been just her she would have chased that girl to the very ends of the world to wrap her in her arms and never let her go, but life went on and this was the truth. They were needed elsewhere.

'Storm-,' but if he said another word Storm was sure she would crack and so she stopped him.

'We have no idea where we're going to find Alex, she is a master at running away and we need our staff at the school. And if you like it or not, you're part of that. Alex isn't your only responsibility! Right now you can't do anything for her so I'm ordering you to come back.' Logan didn't know what to do. His chest constricted and he had trouble breathing. He was… He was to give up on Alex? He would have to leave her? He had just gotten her back and he… NO! No, he couldn't! He wouldn't let them take her away from him! He wasn't going to lose her again. He couldn't! He… he…

The phone snapped into a thousand splinters as Logan's grip finally got to strong. No. Not again. Not Alex. Not his daughter. Far away he heard the sounds of people trying to check on him, but it didn't get through to him. Hands on his shoulders, pleading him to return to his senses. But what did it matter? What mattered if she wasn't here to share it with him? Why would anything matter if he was alone in it again? Alex… His Alex. Logan crashed to his knees and supported himself with his hands as finally a constricted sob forced it's way out of his throat. His body shocked as sobs broke him before he finally gave in to his despair. His Alex. His daughter. Taken away from him again.

He couldn't do this again. He couldn't do it. He couldn't live though losing her again. He couldn't… Not again. Not her. Why? Why?! Why couldn't he give up on her? The silence was banging on his ears as if trying to get into his head. But he couldn't accept it. He was a wreck. Never had he felt this broken. Never had he been this broken. Every time he had climbed back up again, but he had never been this low before. After so many years of life, he couldn't take this anymore. He couldn't lose anymore.

What exactly happened after that Logan couldn't remember. It all became a blur. Somewhere he saw the faces of Tatiana and Maze, the tears and their pain, but it was all blocked out. At some point he came back to the mansion and everyone started fussing about him. Logan didn't notice it. Something inside him had just snapped. Her name was overpowering and pounded right through all the walls he had put up. The voices of children asking why she hadn't come home yet.

It took mere days before he finally snapped: 'She is not here and she is not going to be! She's far away where we can't reach her! Now you all just shut up about it!' The rage in Logan scared so many of the children he was almost thrown aback by it himself. But he couldn't take their talking anymore. Them whispering about how much of a wreck he was wi-. Without Alex. Without her, because she wasn't there.

'Is she…' one of Alex' first friends at the academy began. 'Dead?'

'I don't know,' Logan spoke honestly. With those words all bits of rumour about Alex immediately died. No one spoke until suddenly someone stopped behind Logan.

'But that doesn't mean there isn't still a chance that she will come home.' It was Kurt. He had been called in by Storm after Logan's disappearance to stand in and now he had come to terms with being around the students. They weren't scared by him, they admired him and even his appearance was a support for most of the students who had visible mutation. But his role in those past days had been more than just a teacher. His demeanour was so calm and friendly that he was almost a priest in here. All children respected him and he could reach them when no one else could.

'But if she's,' the same girl started. She stopped however at seeing Kurt's smile.

'You all remember her, don't you? Alex is still alive.'

'How do you know?'

'Because God smiles upon her. She will return home when the time comes and there is nothing we can do but wait.' All seemed to understand, looking up at Kurt still. Logan shook his head, but in his heart he thanked Kurt for doing this.

'Do you hear that?' A boy suddenly said.

'An angel?' The voice that drifted through the room truly was nothing short of angelic. The voice of a young child on the first floor. Louisa. This was Louisa singing. They could hear the entire school quiet down just to hear her voice. Innocent as anything it offered some sort of comfort to Logan and he finally understood. He found within himself the patience to wait for Alex. Because there was no way she would have left him forever. She couldn't have. So when the time would come, he would be ready and he would get her back.

'Professor Logan is smiling!' a girl suddenly exclaimed. And indeed, the corners of his mouth had turned up slightly, but just enough to form a light smile.

'That's been a long time,' another student said loudly.

'Should we start running now?' a third joined in.

'You'd better,' Logan spoke as he very slowly got up. The students didn't need to be told twice and scrambled in all directions. Kurt teleported away and Logan was left on his own. His fingers moved on their own accord to the corners of his mouth. That was right. A smile. A single smile had brightened the mood. Surprisingly it had been his smile for a change. Maybe he could do this. Maybe he could wait.

And so Logan went back to work. He taught a few classes, did some general jobs around the mansion. Of course he kept track of everything related to where Alex could possibly be, of course she was always in the back of his mind, but he went on. He didn't miss the surprised reactions he got from the other teachers, who had been certain he would completely break down. Maze recovered pretty fast and helped Logan in tracking Alex, but their efforts were fruitless. Still, Kurt's words made sure Logan didn't give up. She wasn't going to be brought down that easily. And right now, he had all eternity to find her.

And so days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into two months. Exactly sixty-four days since Alex had ran away from the hospital, since she had met up with Arania, since she had started her new life. It was comfortable, maybe almost luxurious. Arania could provide anything they needed and more. Alex had a large room all to herself, with a large comfortable bed. The other teenagers were stoked with the arrangements, but Alex couldn't get used to them. She missed her broom cupboard next to Logan's room and so she had crawled into the closet to sleep.

Every night the nightmares plagued her mind. She saw him die over and over again. She saw the face of her father's murderer, she saw him hurt everyone she loved. She saw the faces of those who had tortured her. She'd cry in her sleep and when morning came she would hide the marks on her cheeks. But the worst dreams weren't the nightmares. The ones about the good times were far worse. She'd see vague flashes of people who were nice to her. She saw a house where she had stayed. She saw Logan smiling. She saw herself training and playing. But when she woke up all that would fall to pieces and she'd cry until she had no tears left before getting up and training.

Training was the only way that she got through the days. It occupied her mind. It gave her a purpose and she desperately needed that. She was going to avenge their deaths. All of them. Her mother, her father, Logan. What exactly she was training for she didn't know. Arania hadn't explained into detail what was the plan. Alex was not bothered much by it. She knew they would be fighting for freedom for people like them and that was all that she needed to know.

Still in the nights she was alone and with nothing to occupy her mind, her head was filled with partial memories that patched up such a beautiful feeling that Alex wanted to cherish it forever. To memorise it perfectly in order to keep Logan alive for as long as he was supposed to have been. And so she tossed and turned until she finally had to give in to fatigue only to wake up the next morning after another troubling dream.


	22. Taking Up Arms

**Taking up Arms**

_With Teenage Mutants and a copycat_

It was November 13th, three months after her disappearance, that finally something changed. It was one of the students of the school who was the unfortunate person to discover the happenings. Camilla, aka Cam, was a thirteen year old astral projector who had difficulty in landing after she had left her body and then sometimes had to travel miles before she got back to her body. That was why she had originally already trained with Shadowcat to get adjusted to ghost movement. But that specific morning Cam had started her training with Belamie, the teleporter teacher, to land after leaving her body. Unfortunately she had missed the target of the couch by about 20 miles and had landed in a forest to the west of the mansion. A few tricks of Belamie and Kitty had quickly showed her how to determine her position and she had started heading back to the mansion. At least until she had come to the Hudson river.

There was an army. A few hundred men ready for a fierce battle. It was almost as if war had started without anyone knowing. Immediately Cam had stopped her ghost-speeding and stopped in the camp to listen in on whatever was going on. When she returned to the mansion an hour later she was in total shock and it took Belamie a while before she could get anything sensible out of the young mutant. When she finally came back to her senses she had to say but a few words before all lessons were cancelled and the teachers assembled.

'They're starting a war.' Of course that didn't specify what, who, when and where, but for now it sufficed. Belamie was in charge of the students and all other teachers assembled in the office to address the matter at hand, which was getting all information possible out of Cam. The teenager was still most shocked. She had only arrived at the mansion two months ago and was most unfamiliar with all it's dealings. The war between mutants and humans was familiar, but secret facilities of humans and the brotherhood were still completely unknown to her. Fortunately she was clever and brave and hadn't left before having gotten a satisfactory amount of information.

Apparently a secret base of an anti-mutant organisation within the military had been attacked by mutants and a whole army had been sent in to deal with these mutants who were incredibly talented and trained. The mountain state park had all this time kept the location of the base very secret and many parts within the government were even uninformed about it's existence. So the military was trying to deal with this stealthily.

However, now they knew about it, the x-men couldn't let this happen. Kitty, Tinman, Maze, Logan and Bobby got on the plane and all strapped in quite tightly. Logan didn't like flying anyway, but it was far worse with Maze flying. That blasted idiot didn't know how to contain his excitement once in the air and this resulted in loop-de-loops every three miles. One of these days Logan would kick Maze's ass for this, but at the present there were more important matters to address. Fortunately Maze realised this as well and adopted a flying style more similar to Storm's. It was better, but Logan still wished they could have use an entirely different method of transport.

'We're almost there,' Maze suddenly spoke. 'There is the army.' Bobby looked out the window and confirmed Maze's claim.

'Put her down, Maze. We'll go on from here by foot,' Bobby said. Logan almost sighed in relief as the younger, but definitely older looking, Iceman told Maze to land. Finally, solid ground under his feet. Logan didn't like flying, or diving, but for the sake of everyone he just put up with it. Nevertheless he hated it. Finally the plane touched down. And Logan immediately freed himself from the straps that had tied him to the flying metal box of death and walked out.

The ground was bare, the air was cold and dry. Any day now it could start to snow. As high up as they were it would probably snow here before anywhere else. Kitty shivered against the cold as they assembled outside.

'What's our plan?' Maze asked. He was the newest to the mansion, despite him being just as old as Bobby, and didn't know the way things went on mission that well. It had, after all, been quite a while since they had any sort of mission like this.

'There is no plan,' Logan said as he looked around. 'The military base is over there,' he pointed a bit to the north before turning slightly to the east, 'There the army is coming.'

'Our best chance would be to arrive at the confrontation, by heading straight for the base,' Bobby concluded.

'Then we'd better hurry up. You and Tinman are going to have some trouble getting there,' Kitty spoke.

'And you not?' Bobby said sceptically.

'Watch!' Kitty hurried over to the ledge and jumped. Immediately all four guys ran after her and saw she was sliding right through all sharp points and landed on a lower ledge completely unscathed. 'Come on!' And that was all the encouraging the men needed before climbing after itty. They progressed fast down the mountain. Especially with their mutations. In a mountain pass they could see the army drawing closer to the destination.

The base was located in a valley surrounded by tall mountains that had steep hills running down. An army would have but one passage they could use to get to the base. The mountain pass. If that was closed off, the entire army would have no way of getting there. But the valley seemed completely abandoned. Whoever they were supposed to be fighting wasn't there. They finally reached the bottom of the valley.

'Wasn't this base supposed to be occupied by the brotherhood or something?' Maze commented. 'Then why is there no one here?'

'I don't know,' Kitty said. 'Maybe they're hiding somewhere.' At that moment the first men of the Army appeared. They looked very tired, but their numbers were great and the x-men stood no chance if the army decided to fight them instead. Whoever was inside better have brought quite a lot of people or they wouldn't make it out alive. The men started splitting up in smaller groups to surround the building, but at that moment an explosion took place and all turned their eyes to the roof of the old building. For a moment it was just a lot of dust, but then a silhouette became visible. The silhouette of a teenage boy. With a giant leap he landed on the ground and looked up. Logan didn't quite catch what he said, but he caught on to the language, Japanese. The soldiers were at a los for what to do. They couldn't very well start shooting a teenage boy, even if he had just leapt of a building. But the boy wasn't as patient.

'Mina, ikimashou!' They were incredibly fast all ten teenagers that seemed to appear almost out of nowhere and arranged themselves around the boy.

'Matte!' a voice suddenly called out from the back. Had he heard that right? Shorter and younger than the others she still was visibly the leader of the group all halted as she addressed them in Japanese while she walked over to her spot at the front of the set up. It was Alex. And at the same time she wasn't. Clad in a similar formfitting suit as the other members of the group of twelve teenagers she looked too cruel and heartless for her to possibly be Alex. She had still not recovered from her delusion.

She cleared her throat and turned to the army: 'We will give you one chance to put down your arms and surrender or we will cut every single one of you down until there is but one left. This person's leg tendons will be sliced and he'll have to crawl back to civilisation where he can tell about us.'

'What are you talking about, kid? We're here to fight the mutants who occupied this base. Now get the hell out of here or we will shoot,' the commander of the army called out, but before the final word had even rolled over his lips Alex had rushed over to him and pressed her sword against his throat.

'You don't get to call me that, and now you will regret your decision.' As if connected by some sort of telepathy suddenly all of them moved and the soldiers started firing. The boy who had jumped off the roof held his hands up and Logan could see the bullets in the air slow down and turn around before soaring back at the men who had shot them. Screams of pain came from the soldiers as a scream sounded over the field, but surprisingly only a feral teenage mutant seemed to be troubled by it of the entire group of mutants. A whole group dropped dead on the ground as the oldest boy of the group moved his hands and lightning struck out of nowhere. They were so incredibly strong and adapt at fighting they nearly lost their young age.

'Unbelievable,' Kitty muttered as the battle continued with barely a scratch on the mutants and half the army already defeated. It would be unfair to call it a battle. The army was so overwhelmed with the immense power of the mutants that this could only be called a massacre. They had sought this out. It was over within four minutes and the x-men had found themselves too baffled to intervene. Alex, who had not moved a muscle during the fight, walked up to the last living soldier. He was hurt from a severe cut in his arm and was almost bleeding out. Alex knelt down next to him and wrapped a cloth around the wound in his arm.

He gave her a grateful look until she pulled him up roughly so he was at eye level with her: 'You will recount what happened here today into the greatest detail to your superior. How an army was slaughtered by twelve teenagers with mutant powers and you will tell them that we're not running anymore. This time, we're coming for them.' She threw him face forward in the dirt and pulled her sword.

'Alex!' Logan didn't know what he was doing, but he burst forward. He couldn't let Alex become that person. He couldn't. He broke away from the line of trees. All eyes snapped his way. Teeth were bared, fighting positions assumed, but Alex rose her arm and they all eased up.

'Who are you?' she snarled at him. Logan's eyes grew wide. Had she forgotten him too now? Before she had recognised him even though everything else seemed to have faded. What had happened to her that she didn't seem to remember him at all? How had she become like this? When he didn't answer she got impatient and asked the second question before he had answered the first.

'And why do you look like the Wolverine.'

'Because it is me, Alex, it's Logan. I've come to take you back home.'

'Lies!' Alex yelled. Her violent arm movement with the sword was so strong and fast that Logan could feel the wind from his position ten metres away. 'Logan is dead, I saw him die right in front of me!' Logan was hit with shock. So that was why she had left him on the floor in the hospital. She hadn't understood him and had probably thought he had asked her to run, which he would have done if there had been enemies nearby.

'I ask again, who are you?'

'I'm Logan, I can prove it if you want me to. I know things about you. Like how you want to learn how to ride a bicycle.'

'No! You can't be! It's impossible! I don't believe you! How did you get that information?!'

'You told me,' but that was the breaking point for Alex. Her sword was already back in it's sheath and she held her hands in front of her stomach with the palms facing each other. Within mere seconds a plasma ball formed larger than a bowling ball. With one arm she raised it up. Logan wasn't sure what to do. He wanted to stand his ground, but he wasn't sure how far her powers extended at the moment, and she had become a nuclear bomb before. And Alex wasn't holding back. With full force she threw the plasma grenade at him. Logan shielded his face with his hands, but the sheer force seared through his skin unto his bones as he was blown back into the woods and then he lost consciousness.

Alex stared at the spot where just moments ago the copycat Logan had been standing. Had he really been Logan he would still be there, this was just the proof that it was not him. She turned around to her group who were looking at her either angrily or confused. They knew. They had known his name and now they knew that had been him. Even if they hadn't caught exactly what she had said they realised what this meant.

But at that moment one of them suddenly spoke up: 'The soldier is gone!' All eyes turned towards the spot on the ground where before the sole survivor of their massacre had laid.

'The man from before must have been just the distraction.'

'Do we go after them?'

'No!' Alex took charge again. 'They will tell of what happened here and that was the purpose of today's fight.' Alex put her hands on her back and even though they couldn't see her face it was unanimously decided that they were not going to argue with the smallest and youngest person of the group. They had learned not to mess with her in the past few weeks. Not only was she the favourite of Arania, she was also the strongest of them and completely ruthless.

A call came from the building and all of them immediately responded by going inside.

The wounded soldier kept on muttering so innumerably many "thank you"s that Logan seriously considered simply dropping him from a cliff and just be gone. Unfortunately Kitty would never let him do that and so Logan bore with it until they had dragged him into the plane after which he was so fed up with the guy that he willingly joined Maze in the cockpit. This resulted in Logan being most terrified the entire flight and when they touched down he was so glad it was all over that he nearly had forgotten what happened. That was until Storm called them in for a debrief.

'What happened out there?' Storm asked after they'd all entered her office. 'You came back with a single injured soldier and so soon already.'

'It wasn't the army were had to be worried about,' Maze said. 'It was a massacre.'

'It was an ambush,' Kitty said. 'And not just any.'

Maze took over again: 'Twelve mutants between thirteen and twenty took out the entire army within ten minutes flat.'

'And they didn't even seem to have any trouble with it. But that wasn't the worst. The leader of them was…' Anxiously she looked at Logan.

'Alex,' Storm didn't even need them to say it. 'That girl is too far into this for anyone's good. Did you sent Logan out to talk to her?'

'Didn't need to,' Maze said. 'He ran out there himself. I don't know exactly what they said, but after we'd gotten the last surviving soldier to safety, she threw the largest plasma grenade that I have ever seen, at him.'

'What did she say?' Storm asked Logan who was yet to open his mouth.

'Enough to explain some things,' Logan spoke up. 'She assumed I was an imposter. She thinks I died back in the hospital and has definitely some trouble dealing with it. Also, she has gotten a better understanding of her powers, that is clear.' With that Logan turned away and let the others go over the events three more times before Storm was finally satisfied. Basically they couldn't do a thing, but it was a long while before the others seemed to realise it as they first had to interview the soldier according to them. After all, they didn't know where the teenage mutants would strike next, even though they knew they would strike.

Storm got in touch with Hank who still had some connections in the government. At this point they couldn't trust anyone with their knowledge or their location. The situation had become more dangerous than ever since the delicate balance between humans and mutants had been so gravely violated by small group of mutants who had attempted and succeeded to kill several politicians in favour of mutant registration. It was still a sensitive point that was still optional at the moment as the mutants were pressing a motion for reduced firearms sales.

All in all, Hank was the only person Storm could trust and he responded to her call straight away. The situation was as messy and complicated as ever and Hank only offered a more depressed view. Against the Canadian border, right north from New York, there was a special facility for soldiers who were trained to be mutant fighters. It was a secret project by the anti-mutant part of the government and all Hank knew were just rumours, but there was enough consistency to confirm it's existence. There were over a thousand men in that facility. They were the best of the best and were basically brainwashed against the mutants.

If news of this group of teenage mutant would get out then they could be sure to expect this group to be activated.

This was a very bad prospect. Probably armed with cure guns they didn't know how well the teenager's defence against this was. In a hand to hand combat and even with firearms they knew Alex would be able to defend herself, but the cure. It was a cruel weapon. To take away a mutants mutation was to take away a mutants identity. A mutation was more than just a power-up, it was part of your being and the cure took that away. It was almost like a paralysis.

'We can't let this happen,' Storm said. 'Hank, keep this quiet. We can't let anyone get wind of this or we'll have a full scale war on our hands. If the humans attack the mutants will definitely retaliate and then we'll have the entire country fighting, maybe even more.'

'I'll keep my ears open,' Hank understood and with that departed.

That night Storm couldn't sleep from all the worries she had and she wasn't the only one. Far away Alex was lying under the king size bed in the school-turned-hotel and pondered over what had happened that afternoon. She had been scolded for the way she had dealt with the copycat Logan situation. Due to her ill judgement she had weakened the impression they had left. Her cheek still stung from the hit she had taken.

It was the middle of the night and all around her everyone was asleep. It was completely quiet and this was the time of day that Alex could finally let her thoughts run. As long as someone was awake there was always the pressure of having to perform to the best of her abilities overpowering her thoughts. But as soon as everyone was asleep she gained some freedom of mind in her safe place under the bed, where everything was much smaller and simpler. She had seen Logan today. Well, a copycat. Why would they sent out a copycat? After all, how could they know how much he meant to her? They had never tried that with her father and back then she had been much more vulnerable.

No matter how much thought she gave it, she couldn't think of a single reason for them to sent a copycat. It wasn't as if they could completely copy Logan. Logan's indestructibility due to his adamantium skeleton and healing powers were impossible for a copycat to imitate. She knew he was dead so she wasn't going to spare him. Maybe they thought she would have spared him and sent him, but that was a fairly small chance since he hadn't even been backed up by anyone. It didn't make sense and she wanted to investigate, but she would never get permission to do that.

The others had gotten permission to leave before, but Alex had always been denied that. After all Alex was the secret weapon, the strongest one of all of them. That was why she hadn't been allowed to fight today. If she had fought then they would think twice about sending the special unit after them. She had worked very hard to improve everything. The most important improvement was probably her telekinesis. She had located the point of emotion that powered it most and that was determination. She was quite curious to test her strength against… Someone, but she couldn't remember. There were still such gaps in her memory that she had no idea what she was thinking sometimes.

There was no way for her to suspect she would get ill very soon, yet she thought so. She had requested permission to go to a bunker for this, but why she had done that she didn't know. It was all too blurry, blocked with her memories. She remembered travelling all over the world before going somewhere safe with Logan after that there were lots of blanks and gaps until she reached an ambush by mutants and army after that she was very clear on everything, but it hurt too much to remember.

How was it possible that her life was filled with so much pain and hurt? She was young, she should have memories of school and friends. Would she have gotten a normal life if she had gone with the men at the age of five? Or would it have been even worse then? Well, the only way it could get worse was if she had died, and at the moment that didn't seem so bad anymore. At least she wouldn't have to feel the pain then.

No, she couldn't afford to think like that. She had a war to win. A war against the faceless men who had taken away all her happiness. She would take all the scoldings, beatings and defeats if it made her stronger. She gave up her freedom for victory. A wave of nausea suddenly hit her, but Alex suppressed it. She had gotten used to it. The headache whenever she thought she was remembering something. It reminded her that she would never be safe.

Alex curled up on her side and closed her eyes. She should stop thinking. She would need her energy tomorrow if they were to locate the facility. She hadn't been in the best shape today and tomorrow she had to be better. She would always have to be better. A few hours of sleep were necessary. Her shoulder touched the underside of the bed, but it gave her the comforting feeling of knowing that there was at least an object between her and anyone who could come in. In this space she had control, until she fell asleep.

At night she had to surrender to the nightmares that never stopped. Flashes of the past, of pain and torture kept on appearing. But the worst dreams were those with warmth. She couldn't make out who or where, but she knew she was happy. And when she'd wake up all alone on the cold floor under the bed it hurt more than anything to know she had had something beautiful. Once, in a past that was lost even to her memories.


	23. War

**War**

_With Mutant Hunters_

Logan was rudely awoken in the early morning by Kitty. In his grumpy morning mood he tried to slash her, but his arm went straight through her and he realised that was the exact reason they had sent Shadowcat for the much despised job of waking Logan up. After all, Logan still woke up nearly every night from nightmares about the past he could not remember completely. He was dead tired and needed sleep, but just two words from Kitty got him completely awake.

'They know.' Logan was out of bed and halfway dressed before Kitty had even left the room. In the Kitchen the entire staff, plus a few junior x-members, plus the second generation mutants, plus their parents had gathered for the intelligence meeting.

'Logan's here, we can begin,' Maze said. 'This morning around three we got a message from Dr McCoy telling us that the anti-mutant army is on the move and heading out for the teenage mutants. At this moment Belamie and Mrs Nae are following them and are in constant contact with us via Mr Nae and they'll be safe for the moment. The exact location we don't have, but it is clear that they are going to meet with the teenage mutants at some point and this is going to turn into a full blown war with a lot of casualties on both sides.'

'What can we do?' Kitty asked.

'For now we're going to keep a close eye on it and continue running activities in the school, but we'll be on standby to start. Isabelle has offered to take over classes for Belamie for the time being,' Storm said. 'The students are not allowed, under any circumstances, to know what exactly is going on. Should the occasion arrive for intervention, they will be told there is a mild rebellion of the branch of the brotherhood of mutants and that a small party of humans is in danger. What is really going on they will only get to know when this situation ends, be it positively of negatively. Is that understood?' An affirmative sound or not came from all people in the room.

'When we have a location Belamie and Jun will brief us immediately and all of you will set out for it. Then-,' suddenly Jun popped into the room.

'Mrs. Storm, trouble!'

'What is it?'

'Alex, she appeared at the camp.'

'What?!' Logan said loudly.

'All by herself, she's running around like mad and turning the whole place upside down looking for something.'

'The others?' Storm asked.

'Not there, she's all by herself,' Jun said. A short silence fell, but then finally Storm decided.

'Dispatch. Go out there. Whatever is going to happen there is no denying that Alex will be a centrepiece in it. Bring her back, preferably in one piece this time.'

'We will,' Maze spoke for the entire group. Jun jumped out of the room and back into the field while the group crammed themselves into the plane that was far too small for this amount of people. Maze needed the assistance of his telekinesis to keep the plane in the air. Fortunately they were only a short while out when the army was spotted. The plane touched down and they all hurried out. Immediately Jun appeared in front of them and Belamie a second later as well.

'She disappeared. Suddenly she was just gone,' Belamie explained. 'First she turned the whole camp upside down looking for some copycat then suddenly she stopped. I can't really ask what happened because these soldiers will kill any mutant they find, but they were definitely scared of her. Something happened that called her back and I think it means that her troupe is close.'

'She's gone?' Chloe asked surprised. After all this time no one was surprised anymore to hear the Dutch second generation girl voice her thoughts so openly. Her brother was definitely the more sensible one.

'I think it's reasonable to belief they will be here soon,' Jun said. 'But then with all of them.'

'These men don't voice it, but they're afraid. They will not ask questions, but immediately shoot,' Belamie added.

'So we'll have to be careful,' Kitty concluded.

'Very,' Belamie answered.

'Then what are we going to do now?' Jason asked, following his sister's example of speaking up.

'We'll get to the place where we think the mutants will arrive,' Jun said. 'There's a field a bit up ahead. We think they'll use the edge of the woods to surround the army. Or if not to have the field advantage, then to move more easily which I think they'll need. The army is going to move soon, so we'll have to hurry up.' This was affirmed and they all nodded. Jin Nae was completely exhausted within ten minutes after having gotten caught over and over again before travelling back in time to redo the situation. But once they reached the field she got some time to recover.

Maze went over some battle tactics with everyone, rules, especially for the younger ones who were not allowed to step in until called to do so. The only one who was allowed to intervene on own accord was Jin, but she was not allowed on the battlefield at all. Logan wasn't really paying attention to it all. There were noises he couldn't place. To the east there was the army moving closer, but there were sounds from west as well, and they were not of people moving. There were some noises that could be the mutants, but there was something there. A distortion of some sort. Like the buzz of electricity.

'Tank, you doing anything?' Logan asked.

'No, why you ask?' The boy they got from Mexico replied. But Logan never got a chance to reply as suddenly a voice boomed loudly over the area.

'Humans, you came to fight us. This is your a warning. Lay down your arms and surrender or we will not hesitate to end your miserable lives.'

'W'at's zat accent?' Isabelle asked.

'Russian,' Kitty answered. 'Tatiana has the same accent.'

'Well, I can only tell zat she is a very strong Siren. She 'as complete control of 'er power.'

'The army will never comply. They're going to be in the field in three minutes. Five minutes and the mutants will appear. I can't see any further, there are too many possibilities after that,' Mr Nae said. 'But Logan, Alex is not well.'

'I know that,' Logan gritted his teeth.

'What do we do when she engages us?' Kitty suddenly asked. Everyone turned to look at Logan.

'We take her out, if we can,' it was not like him to be pessimistic about any fight, but this one didn't look good at all. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt Alex, but there was a fair chance she would still not recognise them and fight them instead. How were they going to stop this war. The teenage mutants seemed completely deluded, but the Army was more than brainwashed as well. If only there was a way to break the thought process of all of them.

'Here they come,' a young feral junior x-member said. They all turned their eyes towards the east and indeed a few moments later the army appeared. They rested for a moment to scout the area around the field. Thanks to Jason's light tricks they stayed hidden from view and the army deemed it safe to go into the open. They took up half the field and waited there. The buzz that Logan had been hearing for a while now was getting closer and the feral seemed to notice it too.

'Humans,' suddenly echoed over the field again. 'This is your last chance. Lay down your weapons and surrender or we will attack.'

'We're not afraid!' yelled one of the soldiers back and all the x-members knew that this was about the stupidest thing he could have done. Only seconds later the young feral pointed to something behind the line of the trees and suddenly Alex appeared. She wore a pure white suit and it combined with her general looks and shortness it made her seem fairly innocent. At least she would have looked innocent had it not been for the look on her face.

'That was the worst mistake you have ever made,' she said.

'Open fire!' someone yelled and immediately the front row of soldiers knelt down so two rows of men could start firing with cure guns. Logan was about to burst out of hiding when suddenly Alex pressed both her palms forward and all cure darts came to a halt three metres in front of her.

'Unbelievable, she couldn't even lift a chair before,' Maze said.

'Strike team!' The commando came and as if that had been a cue for not just the army suddenly the other teenage mutants appeared at high speed and positioned themselves behind Alex.

'Hajime!' Alex yelled and all cure darts dropped to the ground. It was amazing to see all teenage mutants suddenly pulling up their abilities to defence. Metal shields, force fields of sound, or fire on every inch of their bodies. It was incredible how strong they seemed. The army however viewed this as an opportunity and amidst a lot of screaming. The ranks in the back were split up to fight an individual mutant. Every mutant had a group of at least forty soldiers coming at them with all sorts of weapons. Swords, shields, guns, knives, even a crossbow. Unfortunately they were no match for the teenage mutants who were seemingly even better trained than the soldiers and downright overpowering in force.

'We're moving in,' Maze said as he drew his swords and knives out of his belt. 'Logan, see if you can lure Alex out of the battlefield. She seems to be the leader so if you can do anything. All others split up and see how many lives we can save, but be careful. These people are not to be trifled with and the army doesn't know we're also on their side. Tank, see how far you can get with shielding everyone from the cure guns. A prison or something of the sort for the humans would be great.' Tank nodded and with that they all started moving.

The fallen shield of a soldier was a most necessary precaution as Logan picked it up to shield himself from the cure darts. The army panicked at realising there were many more mutants than they had anticipated and they tried splitting up further to attack these new opponents as well, but this caused them several more men as the teenage mutants noticed the weakness. That was until they were the ones attacked by the new mutant group. All sides started fighting all others and it was the biggest mess Logan had ever known, but he wasn't here to fight any random mutant.

Alex had taken it upon herself to cut through the entire rankings of the army and with huge plasma explosions and silver flashes of speed and diamond. She didn't even notice the presence of the new people. Logan couldn't keep up with her. She was deep amongst the soldiers and they were targeting her by the dozen. As soon as he got closer he had at least five soldiers in his way and by the time he had managed to get past them without killing any of them she was gone. His claws retracted were still solid metal knouts and he knocked soldiers out enough, but Alex was far more efficient in moving through all of them. The explosions were getting larger and larger.

'Lex!' Logan called above the noise of screams and collisions everywhere. 'Lex!' For the shortest of seconds she seemed to freeze and it gave Logan the window of opportunity to get past the next three soldiers and to Alex who was already forming a plasma grenade with her hands.

'Anata dare?!' Alex screamed. 'Doushite o shiteru no?!' And she flung the plasma grenade right before his feet where it exploded with immense force. Logan etched his feet into the ground and saw how around him the soldiers were thrown back meters. His skin seared from the burns, but he started recovering straight away. Alex stared at him with wide eyes.

'Alex, it's me!'

'Iie! Logan jyanai!' Full force she hit him and he fell back on the ground.

'Lex, I found you in that pub! I took you to Xavier's school for gifted youngsters! We went across the entire world together to find the others like you!' Alex froze completely now. Everything was coming back to her. Her headache was getting unbearable and suddenly she remembered it all. She recognised the people who had entered the field, everything was so clear suddenly. In the hospital she hadn't seen the lizard man, she had killed the lizard man. Someone had been messing with her mind. She was fighting a pointless war! She had to stop her troupes, but as soon as she realised this her mental connection to them fell away. Arania wasn't keeping it up anymore. What was going on?

The sound of heavy metal walls coming down out of nowhere surprised her for a moment as a giant metal box closed around the majority of the army both keeping them inside and shielding them from the teenage mutants. Immediately the box started shrinking.

'Tank!' Marcus is an electromaster!' Alex raced over to her companion who she knew had to be the one to form the box. 'Don't let it get any smaller, he'll kill all soldiers.' Then she raced back to Logan. 'We have to take the mutants out, but please, don't kill them. We were all being deluded!' Logan nodded and charged at the boy who could accelerate anything.

'Taishou!' The boy on fire called as Alex charged at him. 'Nani taishou o shiteru no?!'

'I'm doing my duty,' And with that Alex struck him with her diamond fist against the skull and he was knocked out straight away. The soldiers were less lucky to have Alex get a sword from Maze and she cut of about six legs before the five soldiers had any idea what was happening. The tides were turning in the favour of the x-men now Alex was back on their side. It was clear she was the strongest of all of them.

'Ken?!' Victoria exclaimed surprised as Alex charged at her with the sword in hand. 'Nani taishou-,' but before she could finish her sentence Alex had hit her in ribs with the handle of the sword and Victoria gasped as all air was knocked out of her. One swift movement of Alex swept Victoria's legs from under her to have Kitty come and take over to tie the teenage girl up. Alex ran over to help Tank who was visibly struggling.

Meanwhile Logan had to resort to using his claws and cutting through the cloud of object that the accelerator was sending at him. Where all these things came from was a question he had not time for at the speed at which they came at him. It was a whirlwind of knives, swords and anything sharp and painful around a kid of maybe fifteen years old. Logan was done. With a roar he threw himself through the cloud. Three knives pierced his skin, but he couldn't let them bother him as he struck the boy hard against the head before covering the unconscious kid with his body to prevent the falling knives from killing the fifteen year old. With a grunt he got up and pulled the sharp objects out of his back before joining Maze and Kitty in boxing in the last few soldiers that were still alive and fighting.

'Marcus!' Alex yelled, but the electromaster didn't respond to his name being called. She drew a knife and threw it at Marcus leg. He roared in pain and Tank immediately seemed to gain the upper hand as he now got the window of opportunity to form a large gun in his hands. With a large bang it fired and sent a metal net at Marcus who had now recovered and split it apart before sending lightning at Tank, but Alex got in the way and her plasma grenade exploded halfway thrown all three teenagers off their feet. Alex and Marcus were the first ones back up and Alex charged with her sword, avoiding the lightning Marcus sent at her. She jumped and swung, but her sword was suddenly pulled and Alex was thrown back again.

Tank flattened his gun and caught the sword from Marcus electrokinesis. He sent the metal board over to Alex who jumped on it as she grabbed the sword out of the air. Marcus needed every bit of attention on keeping Tank away. He was not used to facing anyone with a similar strength in his electrokinesis. The frown of focus on Tank's face betrayed that he was equally troubled in facing someone with such great control over his powers. Alex was thrown back and forth on the board as neither of the guys could keep control of the metal objects and finally Alex let go of both and jumped at Marcus with a small plasma grenade in her hand. Marcus could only just grab her by the metal part on her hair tie and pull her back just far enough to save himself, but the plasma grenade hit his leg and Marcus roared as the bones tore through his skin and muscles were torn apart. He didn't see Alex left leg coming at him, but he was grateful when the blow against his head knocked him out completely.

Tank was now free to form a final metal box to lock in the last members of the army. Over two hundred dead bodies laid on the ground, most of the x-men were covered in blood both of themselves and others.

'Is everyone alright?' Maze called loudly across the field.

'Chloe!' Jason screamed as he ran over to his sister. 'Chloe, sta op!' But the bruised form of the Dutch girl didn't respond to her brother's request of getting up. She lay completely still.

'Chloe!' Sara and Mike van Bergh ran over to their children. 'Chloe, word wakker. Alsjeblieft, liefje.' But there came no response to the begging of her parents. The pale skin of Chloe's face was cracked like fragile china and blood ran in perfectly red trails down the sides. Her blue eyes stared beyond the sky, but the tears were still glittering in the sunlight. In her shoulder there were three darts of a cure gun. The indestructible mutant had been left defenceless.

At that moment Kitty noticed another person missing and another scream followed as the impelled body of Belamie was found amongst a pile of soldiers. Her body twisted in an attempt to get away, expression filled with fear. Shadowcat fell on her knees next to her friend and broke down in tears as Maze wrapped his arms around her.

'Belamie!' Alex looked from her teacher to her friend to the battlefield that they had left behind. Hardly anyone had come out uninjured. Jin was retrieved from the forest as she had finally passed out from exhaustion after claiming to have done this battle seventeen times. Alex gritted her teeth and wrapped her arms around waist as realisation suddenly came flooding to her. She had killed so many of these defenceless people. She, she had been the one that caused the burned away the skin of the soldiers in the north. She had crashed the skulls of another twenty men around the field. She had stabbed soldiers with her bare diamond hands. She had crashed the plasma grenade in Chloe's face before the cure guns had hit the girl. She had been happy when she had seen the white skin break. She had killed her friend.

'Lex,' a deep voice suddenly came from behind her and Alex spun around to throw her arms around Logan's waist.

'I missed you,' she nuzzled her face against his chest.

'You okay, kid?' She shook her head. 'Listen, you couldn't help it. You didn't know what was going on. You saved lives after that.'

'But it won't bring Chloe back. I killed her Logan.'

'I saw it, Lex. But feeling bad about it won't get us any further. We all came here knowing the risks, but we were willing do everything to get you back. It was more important than everything else. You got that?' She nodded. 'Good, then don't ever go of on your own again.'

'I can't make any promises,' she said with just the tiniest bit of humour and Logan pulled her close again, but when he let her go she was serious again. 'My mind was being controlled. As clear as I am now, I think that was before I was in the military facility. I think it's Kim.'

'Kim?'

'Yes, she was at the military facility, she made me lose my mind basically to get information out of me. She seemed very nice at first. Didn't I tell you about this?'

'There was no time to tell me. You were halfway unconscious on the motorcycle.'

'Well, she's a mutant and she could make me see things. I think she also controlled Arania-san.'

'Arania? Why would she have anything to do with this? She was in Japan, wasn't she?'

'No, she's here! She was the one who trained me the past month. She linked our minds together and… Wait. She was…' It hit Alex like a train at full speed. How could she have been so blind?! It was so logical! 'Where is Arania-san?'

'I don't know. Lex, what's going on?'

'She's the one! She has been behind all of this. She controlled my mind, she made me forget you and everyone else form the mansion because she couldn't control it. She made me hate the humans. It was all her!' Alex was about to run off when Logan grabbed her.

'You're not going anywhere, what are you going to do?'

'It was Arania-san who did all of this. I finally understand now. She knew things about my powers even I didn't know. That file you took from the facility was addressed to Webmaster. Arania is also known as the Webmaster of the East. She has the ability to control minds, link them together. By using my drive she forced the entire group of us together to fight the humans. I don't know why she would have done this, but that is it! It has to be. She is the only one who could have that much control over my mind.'

'But she was your friend wasn't she?' The others started to notice now that Alex was onto something and started gathering around her.

'I thought, but what if she was hunting me after all?'

'Then why would she have let us go? Why let you go before?'

'I don't know, but this has to be it!'

'Alex!' Jin suddenly broke the ranks. She is straight to the West from here. But you have to hurry. And, please, don't die.' Alex turned to Look at Logan who gave her a troubled expression for a few seconds but then nodded.

'We'll be right behind you. Alex nodded and with that she sprinted away followed by the entire group.


	24. Game Over

**Game over**

_For Everyone_

Alex zoomed between the trees and zigzagged through the woods until she stumbled upon a dirt road. Immediately she saw the woman walking to the black van.

'Arania!' She saw the eyes of the woman she had once trusted grow wide in the second it took Alex to pin her against a tree.

'Are-chan, what a surprise to see you here.'

'Stop playing games, I figured it out!' Alex yelled loudly.

'So you finally discovered that I've been the one controlling all enemies around you to keep you out of their hands for the past eight years?'

'That's a lie! You've been hunting me as well. Why?! What could you possibly gain from my powers?!'

'I already got it, Are-chan. I've got the strongest mutant in existence entirely under control.' As if that had been a cue Alex' arms were pulling back. Alex tried to resist, but her grip on Arania was lessening.

'What are you doing?'

'You, my dear, are my puppet and I don't plan on letting you go now you know. I spent eight years gaining control over you. That tumour was all my doing, a formula I designed to weaken your natural barriers. And when it was removed I had the perfect access. You were experiencing memory loss and all I had to do was keep that under lock and key. I could manipulate the way you saw the world and make you do whatever I wanted. Until your memory was triggered and I couldn't hold it back anymore. But even now I can still take control by sheer force.'

Alex crashed against the ground and Arania straightened her back and dusted off her clothes. Alex tried to get up, but her body simply didn't obey.

'I know more about your powers than you do, little one,' Arania said as she straightened her jacket. 'You will never be able to defeat me. How does it feel to be completely weak?'

'I will never be defeated by you,' Alex spit out.

'Doesn't look like it to me. You're lying in the dirt, all alone.'

'Who said she was alone?' Logan stepped form the line of the trees.

'You're here?' Arania was startled. 'But I should have known. Why didn't I notice you?!'

'That would be me,' Jason stepped forward. 'Mental manipulation is even effective on you. And you killed my sister, I'm going to make you regret that.'

'It's over, Arania, surrender, or we'll take you by force,' Bobby said.

'Oh, no, it's not over. You wanted Alex, right? Well, I've got her under complete control. You take one step closer and I'll crush her consciousness.' As if on a cue Alex felt the pressure on her skull increase as she gasped in pain.

'Don't do this, you don't want to do this,' Clara Carter reasoned.

'I have no choice! It's already too far. It's not my fault, it's all them. I have to get my freedom back and this is the only way.'

'There has to be another way,' Bill Carter joined his wife.

'You don't understand! You don't understand what it is like! I devoted my life to them. I used every bit of my powers to created the strongest mutants alive. I sacrificed my own mind to link those of the mutants together, but they didn't obey. They were incapable of being synchronised, because they couldn't be controlled. That's why they cut me off. I was branded a traitor and had to run for two years to get away from them. After all I had done for them I had to hide away! It was not fair!'

'So you put Alex in a situation even worse than your own?!' Kitty asked angrily.

'What else was I supposed to do?! The only way they would ever accept me was if I completed the experiment and I needed a catalyst. Someone strong and one that I control. The first two crashed and blew themselves up as they reacted badly to the medicine, but her healing powers kept her alive and she ran. I needed her to take more so I sent the armies after her to capture so I could get to her. They had no idea what they were dealing with and I could take over their minds easily. But every time that little girl slipped right through their fingers and when I finally had her they got onto me and I had to send her away again. When you came to me in Japan, I finally managed to give you enough and I broke through the mental barrier. But even though I had her, my superiors didn't see the value in the project anymore. What could one girl do? What could a few well trained teenage mutants do? So I had to show them how strong a few well trained mutants could be if their powers and minds were linked together. And I did. Now they'll have to take me back! I'll be a hero again!'

'No, you won't,' Alex grunted as she finally managed to prop herself up to one arm. 'You're a murder. You stole the lives of innocent people ant turned them into a hell they would have never had to live if you had simply surrendered to the thought that you weren't going to be the pride of your superiors again. If you had just been fine with a simple life, then none of this would have happened. It was your greed that killed my parents, that chased me around the world. For that, I'll never forgive you.'

'You're wrong!' Arania was panicking and her grip on Alex' mind lessened.

'I'm not,' Alex forced herself to her knees, but did not have enough control yet to get up. 'You try to blame it on others, but you know as well as I do that you are the only one who is to blame for all of this. You're no hero and you never will be. You're a murderer and a traitor to all mutants.'

'No, no. I'm not,' but Arania's entire posture was shaking as she was forced to surrender to the truth.

'It's over,' Logan said. 'Give up.'

'I, I…' Her mental grip fell from Alex who got to her feet and put her hand on Arania's shoulder. The woman crumbled under her gentle touch and fell to the ground crying. Alex released a sigh of relief and turned to look at Logan who gave her a lopsided grin.

'We'd better get everyone to the mansion,' Maze said.

'I'll drive the teenage mutants with the van,' Alex offered. I doubt they'll be very happy to see any of you if they wake up.'

'Logan and I'll come with you,' Bobby said. 'Maze, you take the plane and everyone else. We'll leave the soldiers in Tank's prison for the time being. Hank will know what to do with them.' All agreed on this plan. Sara van Bergh started crying again as the lifeless body of her daughter was carried to the plane. Maze helped Alex put the teenage mutants in their seats in the van with telekinesis and Bobby froze them to stay that way if they woke up. Alex sat behind the wheel since the van had been adapted to her size and they headed back east to the mansion.

It was very quiet both in the plane and in the van until the teenage mutants started waking up. Bobby had cleverly enough frozen Victoria's mouth shut, but she could still make a lot of nose from her sitting position as she fought against her restraints. She didn't seem to understand a single word they said until Alex started speaking Japanese when Logan didn't understand, but Victoria seemed to calm down. During the three hour drive there was no more exchange of words than the three times that a teenage mutant woke up.

When they finally arrived at the mansion all teenage mutants were temporarily put in the bunker until they knew what to do with them. It was clear that none of them spoke more than a few words English. Fortunately they all did speak Japanese for some reason and it was quickly determined that Victoria spoke Russian, which Tatiana could translate, and Marcus spoke German, which Kurt could translate.

But first they had to deal with Arania. Storm had recovered a helmet that was supposed to protect from telepaths entering your mind and put it on Arania's head so she could enter people's minds anymore and then question hour began. There was but one question remaining now that Alex wanted an answer to. She knew why now, she knew what had happened, but there was something only Arania could give her an answer to.

After having heard the entire story again in detail Alex finally asked it: 'Why did I survive? Why did I become a second generation?'

'I thought you might ask that question, Are-chan,' Arania said. 'The reason the second generation mutants came into existence is pure coincidence. The genetic code of mutation is in different locations on the DNA. Your parents had the mutation code in exactly the same place and passed it onto you. That was why you developed the second generation mutation. It was the same for your friends. Not always this is the case, in more cases it isn't actually. You just are the next step in evolution. Partially this method is preventing the coming in existence of mutants, partially it is creating even stronger mutants. Why it's specifically all of you I don't know, but that is the theory of why you are alive today and why you have powers.'

'A coincidence?' Kitty asked.

'Nothing more. It's not a big secret in the scientific field of mutation genetics, they just can't do anything with it. The theory has existed for over fifteen years, but you are the only living proof. That is all I know. I'm sorry, Are-chan. I ruined your life because of something no one could control. Hontou ni gomenasai.' Alex couldn't reply to this, but turned around and walked away. All of it. All she had ever been through was the result of a mere coincidence. It was unbelievable. It was so ridiculous it was almost laughable had it not been so pathetically sad. Her parents had been killed because of a mere coincidence.

Tatiana appeared to take her away and check on her, but Alex couldn't really pay attention to it. A coincidence. Suddenly she couldn't help but laugh, it sounded almost painful, but she couldn't help it escaping. The sheer irony of her situation it was all getting too much. She shook with laughter as all burdens fell of her shoulders knowing that it was all over now. She had been completely cleared and though the mood swings might never go away she would be perfectly fine otherwise.

Storm had her help communicate with the teenage mutants and all of them were questioned. Victoria, or Viktoriya, came from Russia and had believed she had been selected by an elite group of mutants to join a rescue squad. Marcus, or Mark, came from Germany and had believed he was in the beta-test of a virtual reality game with everyone else. Anna, or Anumati, came from India and had believed herself to be after the people who had robbed her and her family and so all of them had a story of all around the world. Arania had been their helper and trainer and eventually only person in the world. They would all return to their families before the end of the week.

The second generation mutants decided to stay in the X-mansion although Storm and Hank cleared up all misunderstandings with the different agencies that had hunted all of them for so long by giving them all the information they wanted. Alex' file was made public. The parents of the second generations offered themselves as staff members. None of them had had many ties to their old places anyway. The second generations themselves were happy to receive some further education, although it was still slightly early for Louisa.

The government was scolded for the secret anti-mutant training facility and the soldiers were rehabilitated to join the normal ranks of the army again. They raised a memorial for Chloe who had died because of them and paid their respects to her family.

The funeral for Chloe and Belamie was held a week after the battle, shortly after the teenage mutants had left for their home country. It was an emotional engagement, but even Jason couldn't think that Chloe nor Belamie would have wanted it any other way than to die protecting a friend. Alex was most grateful for his words.

After that all seemed to turn to normal. Alex relished in the peace she had never known before and the legality of her action. She was officially recorded as an inhabitant of the United States of America under her real age and name. Although she wasn't allowed to drive or drink after that, she had her legal guardian who was perhaps a bit too lenient on these rules and often had her drive if she wanted to or handed her a beer when she requested it.

For the first time, Alex had a future. She learned how to read and calculate, how to ride a bicycle and all the things she could do with her life. She was good friends with the other second generations and trained only for fun. By her fourteenth birthday Tatiana could gladly tell her that Alex had grown to an almost reasonable height for her age and was now at a tolerable weight. Her powers had increased, but Alex hadn't become sick again.

'Medetashi medetashi.'

'I still have no idea what you're saying,' Logan replied as he took another sip of his beer. He looked at her. In the dim light he could see Alex' face turned up and her eyes pointed at the stars.

'And they all lived happily ever after,' Alex sighed contently as she took a sip of beer as well and turned to look at Logan. 'I was thinking of All that has happened in the past year. It's really a happy end, isn't it?'

'Who said this is the end? We still have a lifetime ahead of us.'

'And beyond that,' Alex said. 'Tatiana said my healing powers are also reducing my aging. So even after everyone has gone, we'll still be here.'

'Well, at least this time I'm not doing it alone.' He held up his beer.

With a smile she made the same gesture: 'Always together, dad.'

'Together, Lex,' they drunk to that.

'By the way, who are you and what have you done with my dad? You are so terrible with stuff like this,' Alex grinned.

'I could say the same for you. You were the one who started with the happily ever after stuff.'

'Touché,' and to that they both laughed. But it was a happy ending. For now and maybe for the next few years, but who knew what the coming decades would bring? But until then they all lived happily ever after.


End file.
